Depression
by kisshuismylife
Summary: New Summary: Kisshu goes into depression after Ichigo's latest rejection. Can Ichigo cheer him up? Do the Cyniclons want to form a truce? Read and find out! Warning: The story keeps going in different directions, due to the fact that I'm insane.
1. Rejection

**Depression Chapter 1:**

**Rejection**

_**Earlier that day: **_Kisshu was fighting again. But this time, he was only fighting Ichigo. The other Mews were fighting a Chimera Anima he had created, and he was stopping Ichigo from helping them. "Ichigo, WHY won't you go with me?" Kisshu asked desperately.

"Why would I go with someone who's trying to take over the world?" Ichigo asked. "Besides, I hate you. And I know you don't love me, so don't start with that again. I'm just a toy, remember?"

Kisshu's eyes widened. Ichigo took advantage of this to blast him with her attack. "Get out of my life, Kisshu," she called out.

Kisshu gave her a hurt look, and teleported off. Ichigo sighed and turned to her teammates, who had finished off the Chimera Anima, and were watching her. All except for Lettuce and Pudding. They were refusing to look at her. Then they both detransformed, and ran off. Ichigo looked at Zakuro and Mint, but they were just as confused as she was. "I wonder what that was about," Mint said.

"I don't know, but we should go back and tell Ryou the outcome of the battle," Zakuro said. "Let those two cool off, and I'm sure they'll be back."

Mint and Ichigo nodded, then followed Zakuro back to Café Mew Mew.

_**Back at the Cyniclon's base: **_Kisshu teleported in to find Pai and Taruto waiting for him. "How'd it go?" Pai asked.

To his surprise, Kisshu just said, "I'm going back to my room. I don't want to talk about it." He teleported off.

Pai and Taruto looked at each other, worried. "Time to go talk with our girlfriends?" Taruto asked.

Pai nodded, and the two Cyniclons teleported off.

_**With Lettuce and Pudding: **_The two were sitting in a secluded area of the park. They knew the other Mews were looking for them by now; their pendants had already beeped twice, signaling that someone was trying to contact them. Lettuce, however, had discovered a way to cut off the signal from the pendant, so their teammates would have to search on foot to find them, rather than using Ryou's computer.

Lettuce sighed. "We just have to wait," she told Pudding. "I'm sure Pai-san and Taruto will be here soon. They'll want to know what happened."

"Pudding wants Ichigo-oneechan to love Kisshu-oniichan back, na no da," Pudding said sadly. "She's making Kisshu-oniichan sad."

"We're going to have to find a way to make it work," Lettuce said. "And we both know what's going on between Aoyama and Mint, we could use that in our favor."

Suddenly teleportation sounded nearby, and the girls jumped up. Pai and Taruto stood there, looking worried. "What happened with Ichigo and Kisshu?" Pai asked.

"Can we go to your base? They're searching for us," Lettuce said.

The boys took their girlfriends by the hand and teleported. They landed in the main room, and Pai said, "Okay, what's the story?"

"Ichigo still doesn't get it, and I think today was worse than usual," Lettuce said. "She told Kisshu that she knows he doesn't love her, and then blasted him. Then she told him to get out of her life."

Pai and Taruto looked horrified. "We've got to do something," Taruto said. "Kisshu came back here and wouldn't talk to us. I think he's in his room."

"We know something that might break up Ichigo and Aoyama," Lettuce said. "He's cheating on her with Mint."

"Let's start planning, then," Pai said. "Let's go to my lab, Kisshu won't look in there."

The four of them went to Pai's lab, and locked the door. Then they started brainstorming.

_**With Kisshu: **_Kisshu was lying face down on his bed, his head buried in the pillows, and he was crying. _Why doesn't she see that I love her more than that bastard ever could? _he wondered. _Maybe it is my fault for calling her a toy. Too bad she'll probably never love me back. I doubt it would have made a difference, though. Whether I called her a toy or not, she'd still hate me. _He sighed. Eventually Kisshu fell asleep, worn out from crying.

_**The next morning: **_Kisshu was woken up by someone knocking on his door. He didn't respond, and the person switched to banging. "GO AWAY!" Kisshu screamed after a few minutes of this, and started crying again.

The person outside the door was Pai, and when he heard Kisshu start crying, he got worried. _This is getting bad, _Pai thought. _He didn't come out for dinner last night, even though he's always hungry, and now he's crying. Not good. _Pai sighed and said, "Kisshu, it's breakfast time."

"I'm not hungry," Kisshu said. "Now go away."

Now Pai was actually scared. Kisshu, not _hungry_? This was BAD. "Kisshu, are you feeling okay?" he asked.

"No. Now are you going away?" Kisshu asked.

"Kisshu, at least talk to me," Pai said. "What's bugging you?"

"You wouldn't understand," Kisshu said, his voice shaking again. "I bet the girl you love doesn't hate your guts."

Pai tried the doorknob; it was actually unlocked for a change, so he went in. What he saw worried him. Kisshu was lying face down on the bed, his shoulders shaking while he tried to hide the fact that he was crying. "Kisshu, at this rate you'll make yourself sick," Pai said.

"I don't care!" Kisshu wailed, and started sobbing.

Pai was really alarmed now. Kisshu never acted like this. "Kisshu, try to calm down," Pai said. "This isn't helping."

"Just go away, Pai," Kisshu said. "I just want to be alone."

Pai sighed. "Fine, but promise me you won't do anything to yourself," he said.

"Fine, now leave," Kisshu said.

Pai sighed again and left, closing the door on his way out. He immediately teleported to Lettuce, who was making breakfast. "Lettuce, we've got to bring Ichigo in," he said. "Kisshu's crying in his room, and says he's not hungry."

Lettuce turned off the stove, and said, "Let's go. Do you know where she is?"

Pai closed his eyes and concentrated, then said, "Her room."

"Then we don't have time to waste," Lettuce said. "Go get her, and try to avoid her parents."

"Got it," Pai said, and teleported out. He landed in Ichigo's room, startling her. She reached for her pendant, but Pai knocked it away, grabbed her wrist, and teleported to the kitchen.

Ichigo looked around, then spotted Lettuce, and her jaw dropped as Pai let go of her wrist. "What is going on?" she asked in shock. "Lettuce, why are you here too?"

Lettuce went to Pai and took his hand. That was when Ichigo noticed that Pai looked worried to the point of 'about to panic', and Lettuce looked…. angry?

Before she could ask what was going on, Pudding and Taruto came in too, looking sad. Then they noticed Ichigo, and both of them looked wary. Ichigo was really confused. "What happened?" she asked. "All of you are acting differently."

Lettuce replied, "We're all sick of you treating Kisshu like dirt. I told Pai to bring you here, and we're going to do something about the fact that you hate Kisshu."

**Interesting little ending there. Hope you like my new idea, and Review!**


	2. Why?

**Depression Chapter 2:**

**Why?**

Ichigo was confused. "Why?" she asked. "Besides, I only love-"

"That walking puppet who's cheating on you with Mint?" Lettuce suggested. "Bad choice, Ichigo."

"Masaya's cheating on me with Mint?" Ichigo asked in disbelief.

"Yep," Lettuce said, and handed her a photo of Mint and Masaya kissing in a park. Noticing Ichigo was speechless, Lettuce continued, "I think Aoyama was just dating you to get closer to Mint. He never really loved you, he was just using you."

Ichigo was crying, but said, "If that was what you wanted to tell me, why didn't you just tell me on Earth? And what's up with you and Pudding being here anyways?"

"You really are clueless, aren't you?" Taruto asked. "We brought you here because this is where Kisshu is."

"But why?" Ichigo asked.

Lettuce facepalmed. "He loves you," she said. "You're not just a toy to him, he actually loves you, and it's killing him that you hate him so much. You've been so into Aoyama that you obviously never realized that you are killing Kisshu on the inside. Or if you did, you didn't care, and that's even worse. Kisshu loves you more than life itself, and you just push him away."

"I thought he was just toying with my feelings," Ichigo said. "He actually loves me?"

"Yes, and he always has, from the moment he laid eyes on you," Pai said. "I think it's what's called 'love at first sight'."

"I didn't realize that," Ichigo said. "Being called a toy didn't make me feel good, especially since I actually do have feelings for Kisshu. I thought he didn't like me, which is why I've been mean."

The others had their jaws on the floor. "Y-you liked Kisshu and you didn't tell us?" Lettuce asked.

"I didn't know how you'd react, though now it seems that you've been hiding stuff too," Ichigo said. "So how long have you and Pudding been dating Pai and Taruto?"

"Pudding and I got together with Taruto and Pai about three months ago," Lettuce said. "We've been sneaking around because we thought you hated the Cyniclons and would tell Ryou."

"I don't hate the Cyniclons," Ichigo said. "I don't enjoy being called a toy or an old hag, but I don't hate any of them. I'm not too keen on Ryou, though."

"He is pretty nasty to you in particular," Lettuce said. "But we can worry about him later. Right now, we need to deal with the fact that Kisshu's crying in his room and won't eat."

Ichigo looked scared. "Did I really hurt him that much?" she whispered.

"Yep, but I think it's fixable," Lettuce said. "Pai can show you where his room is; I'm going to go make breakfast."

"Okay," Ichigo said. She followed Pai to a closed door, and knocked. It sounded like Kisshu was still crying. "GO AWAY!" Kisshu screamed. "I already told you, I'm not eating anything, and you're not going to get me out of here, either! Just leave me alone, Pai!" Ichigo and Pai heard Kisshu start sobbing again. "I really hope you can fix this," Pai muttered, and tried the door, which was still unlocked. He opened it, and Ichigo went in, then sat down on the chair next to the bed. Kisshu didn't look up; he was still crying. "What part of 'go away' are you not getting?" he asked in a muffled voice. "My life is meaningless. I'd be better off dead!"

Ichigo reached out, and put her hand on his shoulder. "I don't think so," she said softly.

She felt Kisshu stiffen, and then he said, "This is another dream, right?"

Ichigo sighed. "No, it's not," she said. "Can you look at me?"

"You're a figment of my imagination, so no," Kisshu said. "Ichigo wouldn't be in my room trying to make me feel better. She wouldn't be here at all, because she hates me. She loves the walking puppet."

"The walking puppet is cheating on her with Mint," Ichigo said. "She knows that you were right all along- he was no good."

"Why is the figment of my imagination talking in third person?" Kisshu asked.

"I'm not a figment of your imagination," Ichigo said. "And that was just for fun."

"The last time I had this dream, the dream Ichigo said the same thing," Kisshu said gloomily. "Pai would have to brainwash the real Ichigo to come here and cheer me up."

"Pai didn't brainwash me, he just grabbed me and teleported here," Ichigo said. "Is there anything that's going to convince you that I'm not a figment of your imagination?"

"Doubtful," Kisshu said gloomily. "I know the real Ichigo wouldn't be here."

Ichigo looked at the doorway. Pai was gone. "I'm going to find Pai," Ichigo told Kisshu. "Maybe he'll be able to convince you that I'm not a figment of your imagination."

"Pai's not usually in my dreams..." Kisshu said. "Maybe this figment of my imagination has a crush on Pai?"

"Honestly, I would never have a crush on Pai," Ichigo said. "He's creepy…."

Unfortunately Pai was coming back, and he said, "I heard that! I am NOT creepy!"

Ignoring this, Ichigo said, "Can you help me convince Kisshu that I'm not a figment of his imagination?"

Pai sighed. "Kisshu, maybe if you look up, you'll see that this isn't a dream," he said.

"When did that ever work?" Kisshu asked. "Though you're not usually in these dreams…."

"Drastic times call for drastic measures," Pai said. With that he pushed Kisshu off the bed. Ichigo cringed as Kisshu fell on the floor with a 'thunk'.

Kisshu sat bolt upright and said, "OW! What was THAT for, Pai?"

"NOW do you see that you're not dreaming?" Pai asked.

Kisshu glared at Pai, then looked uncertainly at Ichigo. She waved hesitantly. "If I'm not dreaming, then what are you doing here?" he asked her.

"I'm here to apologize," Ichigo said. "I didn't realize you loved me. I thought you just saw me as a toy, which is why I was mean to you. Being called a toy didn't make me feel good. But Lettuce explained that you really do love me, and also told me that the walking puppet is cheating on me with Mint."

"I didn't mean to make you feel bad," Kisshu said sadly.

"I actually had feelings for you before," Ichigo said softly. "I just didn't really know how to tell you, since I wasn't sure you returned them."

Kisshu was looking really sad again. "I also came to tell you that if you're not too mad at me, I'm willing to give you a chance," Ichigo said.

Kisshu perked up a bit. "Really?" he asked.

"As long as you stop calling me a toy," Ichigo said with a smile.

"Okay!" Kisshu said happily. Suddenly his happy look faded.

"Something wrong?" Ichigo asked.

"I don't feel that great," Kisshu said.

Ichigo came over and felt his forehead. "You've got a bit of a fever," she said.

Kisshu sighed and looked at Pai. "Any ideas, Pai?" he asked.

"I think I was right, you made yourself sick crying that much," Pai said. "Get some rest, it'll help."

"Okay…" Kisshu said. "Koneko-chan, can you sleep with me?"

"If you don't do anything too perverted," Ichigo said. Kisshu nodded sleepily, so Ichigo took off her shoes as Pai left, and climbed under the covers with Kisshu. He snuggled up to her as he fell fast asleep. She put her arm over him, and slowly went to sleep as well.

**Cute, right? Kisshu won't be sick for very long this time. Review plz!**


	3. Cheering Kisshu Up

**Depression Chapter 3:**

**Cheering Kisshu Up**

Both Kisshu and Ichigo woke up the next morning at the same time. "Kisshu, are you feeling better?" Ichigo asked.

Kisshu stretched and said, "Yeah, I feel a lot better. Maybe it was a short-lived thing."

Ichigo felt his forehead and said, "Well, your fever is gone, so I think you're probably fine. Do you want to go somewhere?"

"Can we go somewhere with food?" Kisshu asked.

"How about the kitchen," Ichigo said with a smile. She got out of bed, and Kisshu did the same. "Let's go," Ichigo said. Kisshu took her hand and teleported.

When they got there, Lettuce was already making something, and she looked up as they teleported in. "Just in time," she said. "Kisshu-san, are you feeling better?"

"Yep, I'm fine," Kisshu said. "Koneko-chan says my fever's gone too."

"Good," Lettuce said. She looked at Ichigo and said, "You're getting along, right?"

"Yep," Ichigo said cheerfully. She looked at Kisshu, but then got worried. "Kisshu, you look sad, are you feeling okay?" she asked.

"I don't know….." Kisshu said sadly.

Ichigo put a hand on his forehead. "You don't have a fever, that's the good news," she told him. "Do you know why you're sad again?"

"No…." Kisshu said.

"Breakfast's ready, maybe some food will help," Lettuce said. "I made chocolate chip pancakes."

"Come on, let's eat," Ichigo said, gently tugging Kisshu over to the kitchen table. Lettuce gave them both a stack of pancakes, but Kisshu just poked his with a fork. "Kisshu, you haven't eaten in a while, try to eat something," Ichigo said. "Maybe you'll feel better if you eat something."

"Not hungry…" Kisshu muttered.

Ichigo sighed. "Lettuce, can you get Pai? I think something's really wrong here," she said.

"On my way," Lettuce said, and ran out. She returned with Pai a few minutes later, and he immediately came over and put a hand on Kisshu's forehead. Finally he sighed.

"Something's messing up your emotions, Kisshu," Pai said. "We need to figure out what it is, or you might become depressed for life."

Ichigo looked scared as she said, "Do you have a way to find out what's causing this?"

"One of my machines could probably sense the problem," Pai said. "Come on, Kisshu, we're going to the lab."

"Can Ichigo be there?" Kisshu asked.

"I'll be there," Ichigo said.

Pai nodded and said, "Come on." Kisshu and Ichigo followed him to his lab. Once there, Pai said, "Kisshu, sit in that chair, I'll set up the machine."

Kisshu sat in the chair that Pai had pointed to, and Ichigo stood next to him. A few minutes later, Pai brought over a machine that looked like a projector. "I have to put you to sleep," he told Kisshu. Kisshu just nodded, so Pai put a hand on his forehead, and soon Kisshu was sleeping. Pai attached a wire to his forehead, and said, "Okay, stay quiet, Ichigo." Ichigo nodded, so Pai pressed a button, and the machine started making a clicking noise. Pai was looking at a screen, and finally sighed. Noticing Ichigo looked quizzical, he said, "I think I can get Kisshu back to normal, but he's probably going to be kind of clingy to you for a few days."

"Why?" Ichigo asked.

"It's kind of a side effect," Pai said. "If I used this process on myself, or Taruto, we'd get clingy to whoever is the most important person in our lives. So since you're the most important person to Kisshu, he's going to be kind of clingy. I hope you can handle that, because this is the only way to get him out of depression."

"I'm sure I'll manage," Ichigo said. Pai nodded, and pressed another button on the machine. The wire attached to Kisshu's forehead began to glow, and the glow spread over his body, flashing once before slowly fading. When it was gone, Pai took out the wire, and tapped Kisshu's forehead.

Kisshu slowly started to wake up, and as soon as he was fully awake, he asked, "Ichigo?"

"I'm right here, are you feeling better?" Ichigo asked.

"I feel fine, thanks Koneko-chan!" Kisshu said cheerfully. Then he hugged her. She hugged back as she saw Pai mouthing, "I told you so."

Luckily Kisshu didn't notice, and said, "Let's go back to my room."

"Okay, but nothing too perverted, understand?" Ichigo said.

Kisshu pouted but nodded, and teleported them to his room. Once there, he sat down on the bed, and Ichigo sat next to him. He immediately tackled her backwards, and pinned her down on the bed. She sighed, but let Kisshu keep a hold on her wrists, since he was more gentle than previous times. Suddenly he let go, and start tickling her. Ichigo laughed and tickled him back. She soon found out that Kisshu was very ticklish on his stomach, much more so than she was. Soon he was laughing too hard to breathe, and she was laughing too hard to sit up. Finally they stopped tickling each other, and laid back on the bed, gasping for air. "That was _fun_," Ichigo gasped.

"I like fun," Kisshu said. "But I like fun with you best."

Ichigo smiled. "Thanks, Kisshu," she said.

"Can we play a game?" Kisshu asked.

"What do you want to play?" Ichigo asked.

"Tag!" Kisshu said. "We could get Pudding and Taruto to play too."

"Okay, let's go find them," Ichigo said. Kisshu took her hand happily and teleported into Taruto's room.

Taruto and Pudding were eating candy, and tried to hide it. "We're not here to scold you," Ichigo said.

"Yeah, we wanted to play tag, and we need more people," Kisshu said.

"Tag is fun!" Pudding said. "Taru-Taru, let's play!"

"Fine, where are we playing?" Taruto asked.

"The training room," Kisshu said. "There's enough space there, right?"

"I bet it would be more fun if we go to a park on Earth," Pudding said. "Then we can roll around in the grass, too!"

"Fine…" Taruto said. "Let's go to Inohara Park."

"Yay!" Kisshu said. He took Ichigo's hand and teleported. The four landed in a large grassy area, and Kisshu tapped Ichigo. "Tag! You're It!" he said, then took off running. Pudding and Taruto did the same, and Ichigo ran after them. After a few minutes, she tagged Pudding, who started chasing them all around. Then Taruto got tagged, and he started chasing them too. Kisshu was the last to get tagged, and he was It for a while, since he couldn't catch them. He almost caught Taruto, but he teleported. When he reappeared, Ichigo said, "Teleporting is cheating! Taruto's It!"

They kept at it till they were all totally out of breath, then flopped down on the grass together. "That was FUN!" Kisshu said. "What should we do now?"

"Frisbee?" Pudding suggested. Kisshu looked confused. "What's that?" he asked.

While Pudding explained it, Taruto whispered to Ichigo, "What happened to Kisshu?"

"Pai got rid of his depression, but he warned me Kisshu would be clingy to me for a few days," Ichigo said. "Still, I didn't expect him to start acting like a six-year-old."

Taruto sighed. "If Pai used that thing that looks like a projector, Kisshu's probably going to be acting like Pudding on sugar high for the next three to five days," he said. "On top of that, he'll be following you around like a lost puppy."

"Great…." Ichigo said. "I suppose it's better than him getting depressed for life, though."

Kisshu and Pudding came over, and Kisshu said, "Pudding got a Frisbee, let's play!"

"Okay," Ichigo and Taruto said.

They ended up playing Frisbee until dark, and then the Cyniclons teleported their girlfriends back to their base.

Pai was waiting in the main room, looking worried, and as soon as he saw them, he said, "Where were you?"

"We were on Earth, playing!" Kisshu said happily. "And I love Frisbee!"

"Uh…" Pai said, a bit unsettled by how happy Kisshu was.

Kisshu didn't seem to notice, and said, "I'm hungry, are we eating soon?"

"Yes, Lettuce is currently making dinner," Pai said. "Don't bug her, or you'll be foregoing dessert."

"Fine…" Kisshu said. Pai nodded and teleported back to his lab. "What should we do until dinner?" Kisshu asked.

"Something non-energetic," Ichigo said.

"Like kissing?" Kisshu asked eagerly.

"Fine…" Ichigo said. Kisshu grinned and kissed her on the lips. She kissed back as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Eventually they ran out of air, and broke apart. Taruto and Pudding were gone. "You're good," Ichigo told Kisshu.

"So are you!" Kisshu said.

Lettuce came in before Ichigo could respond, and said, "Dinner's ready, so come eat."

"Yay!" Kisshu said. He took Ichigo's hand and teleported to the kitchen, where there was a bunch of food on the table. Pudding and Taruto were waiting, and Taruto was drooling. "Taruto, you're drooling," Kisshu snickered.

Taruto turned red and wiped his mouth. Pai and Lettuce came in, and they all sat down to dinner. After they finished, Pudding and Taruto went off to eat candy, and Kisshu teleported Ichigo back to their room. "Let's play a game!" Kisshu said eagerly.

"How about Hangman?" Ichigo suggested.

"Sure, I love Hangman!" Kisshu said excitedly. "Can I go first?"

"Okay," Ichigo said.

Kisshu went over to his desk and got a pencil and some paper, then drew the hanging stand and six lines. "Okay, start guessing," he said.

"A?" Ichigo asked.

"Nope!" Kisshu said, and drew in a head.

"E?"

"Yep," Kisshu said, and put an E on the second line.

"I?"

"Nope!" Kisshu drew in a neck.

"U?"

"Aww…" Kisshu put a U on the fourth line.

"N?"

Kisshu put an N on the fifth line.

"D?"

Kisshu was somewhat irritated as he put a D on the first line.

"T?"

"HA! No Ts," Kisshu said, going back to being hyper.

"B?"

"Grr…" Kisshu put a B on the third line.

"N and K," Ichigo said.

"How did you get it?" Kisshu asked. "I was totally ready to cream you!"

"I'm just good at guessing games," Ichigo said. "I've got a word I'll bet you'll never guess."

"If I manage to get it, do I get another kiss?" Kisshu asked hopefully.

"Sure," Ichigo said. She also drew in six lines, and said, "Okay, start guessing."

"O?" Kisshu guessed.

Ichigo put an O on the fourth line.

"I?"

"No Is," Ichigo said. She drew in a head.

"B?"

Ichigo put a B on the third line.

"R?"

Ichigo sighed and put an R on the fifth line.

"C?"

Ichigo was starting to get annoyed as she put a C on the first line.

"Y and G!" Kisshu said happily. "Now I get a kiss, right?"

"Did you read my mind?" Ichigo asked.

"No," Kisshu said with an innocent-to-the-point-of-being-angelic look on his face. "Kiss?"

Ichigo sighed and kissed him. She meant to make it brief, but Kisshu pulled her on top of him, and kissed her back passionately. They eventually broke apart, but Kisshu kept his arms around Ichigo, keeping her on top of him.

"Kisshu, can you let go?" Ichigo asked.

"But I like it," Kisshu said, giving her puppy dog eyes.

"But why do I have to be on top of you?" Ichigo asked.

Kisshu smirked, and Ichigo immediately knew she was about to regret saying that, because Kisshu flipped them over, so he was on top of her. _At least he's not heavy…. _she thought. Before she could ask him to get off, though, Pai came in and said, "Bedtime, both of you."

"Aww, Pai, just a little longer?" Kisshu pleaded.

"No, and get off of Ichigo, you'll squish her," Pai said. "At least try to sleep, okay?"

Kisshu pouted, but nodded. He reluctantly got off of Ichigo, and she got up to take her shoes off as Kisshu climbed into the bed. She climbed in next to him, and he immediately snuggled up to her. He was asleep pretty quickly, but Ichigo lay awake a while longer. _I guess he got tired out from being so hyper, _she thought. _Boy, Pai was right, he really is acting different. It's like he's Pudding on sugar high. Except Pudding's not into kissing. _Eventually Ichigo fell asleep too, cuddled up with Kisshu.

**There's Chapter 3, minna. I hope you like it. I can't believe how awesome all you reviewers are. I'm up to 17 reviews on my first day! Thanks, and keep it up, especially if you have ideas for later chapters.**


	4. Embarrassment and Explanations

**Depression Chapter 4:**

**Embarrassment and Explanations**

The next few days were pretty exhausting for Ichigo, who was trying to keep Kisshu from going out of control. He was really hyper, and like Pai had said, clingy to her. He was following her around like a lost puppy, and it wasn't exactly easy. She had also played about five million rounds of Hangman, and she had to keep going to Pudding for new game ideas. To make matters worse, Pudding was feeding off of Kisshu's hyperness. Not to mention that she had given Kisshu AND Taruto candy, and all three of them were bouncing off the walls for a full day.

On the fifth day since Kisshu had gotten hyper, Ichigo woke up and yawned, bracing herself for the usual, "MORNING!"

It never came. Puzzled, she looked at Kisshu, and discovered he was still sleeping. She put a hand on his forehead, but he didn't have a fever. _Maybe he's finally gone back to normal- or at least, as normal as Kisshu gets, _she thought. Then she noticed Kisshu was starting to wake up, so she asked softly, "Kisshu?"

Kisshu opened his eyes- and turned bright red when he saw Ichigo looking down at him. "Um… are you okay?" she asked him.

"Uh…. yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Kisshu asked, sounding nervous.

"Because your face is bright red, and you sound really nervous," Ichigo said. "You didn't do anything weird while I was sleeping, did you?"

"No," Kisshu said. He was still pretty red, and Ichigo asked, "Does this have anything to do with the way you've been acting for the past four days?"

Kisshu's face actually got redder, and then he teleported out without a word. Ichigo immediately got out of bed, did her hair, and put her shoes on, then went to find Kisshu.

One hour later, she had searched the entire ship, and couldn't find him anywhere. Finally she went to the one place she hadn't looked- Pai's lab. She knocked on the door, and Pai's voice called, "Come in!"

Ichigo went in, and said, "I can't find Kisshu anywhere, do you know where he is?"

"What happened?" Pai asked.

"He's pretty embarrassed about the way he was behaving, and he teleported off somewhere," Ichigo said. "Unfortunately, I've looked all over the ship, and I can't find him. I think he might be on Earth, do you have some way of finding him?"

Pai closed his eyes and concentrated, then said, "He's in Inohara park, in that big sakura tree. Do you want me to teleport you there?"

"Please," Ichigo said.

Pai took her by the shoulder, and teleported to the tree. Ichigo looked up, and saw Kisshu sitting on a large branch, his face in his hands. "Kisshu?" she called out. "Can you come down from there?"

Kisshu mumbled something into his hands that sounded to Ichigo's cat hearing like, "I've never been this humiliated…."

"Come on, it's not that bad," Ichigo said. "I hope you're not getting depressed again."

"I was acting like a hyperactive six-year-old!" Kisshu moaned.

"That was a side effect, Kisshu," Pai called up. "It wasn't your fault. Now can you come down?"

"No… I think I'll just stay here…" Kisshu said glumly.

Ichigo sighed, then jumped onto the branch using her cat skills. Kisshu didn't look at her, until she took his face in her hands, and pulled him towards her, then kissed him. As usual, he responded immediately, deepening the kiss while pulling her closer. They both heard teleportation below them, and broke apart. Pai had just teleported away. Kisshu and Ichigo burst out laughing. "I guess he can't take the heat," Ichigo giggled.

Kisshu smirked and picked her up bridal style, then teleported back to the ground. He set her down, and she smiled at him. Suddenly a shocked voice shouted, "ICHIGO!?"

Ichigo and Kisshu turned to see Aoyuck running toward them. "What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked. "Shouldn't you be with Mint?"

Aoyuck went pale, but tried to stay calm as he said, "I have no clue what you're talking about, I love you, Ichigo."

Ichigo took the picture Lettuce had given her out of her pocket, and said, "This proves that you never loved me, and were only using me to get to Mint." She showed him the picture of him kissing Mint, and he went dead white. Then he ran for it. "Too bad I don't have my pendant, it would be fun to see him get hit by my attack," Ichigo said.

"Where is your pendant?" Kisshu asked, puzzled.

"In my room, Pai knocked it out of my hand when he kidnapped me," Ichigo said.

"Let's go get it and kill the walking puppet together!" Kisshu said excitedly.

Ichigo smiled at his excitement, and said, "Sure. It's in my room."

Kisshu grinned and took her hand.

When they landed in her room, however, they soon realized their mistake. _Both _Sakura and Shintaro, for some unknown reason, were in there. They looked shocked when they saw Ichigo and Kisshu, who both gulped. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Ichigo asked.

"Depends on this time's excuse, but if it's not a GOOD excuse, you're grounded for eternity, got that?" Shintaro said.

"Yes, Dad," Ichigo sighed. "It's a long story. I should have told you earlier that I'm Mew Ichigo, but Ryou was pretty insistent on me not telling."

"Hold up, you're Mew Ichigo?" Shintaro asked. "Then what's _he _doing with you?"

"Kisshu brought me here to get my pendant so we can kill Aoyama," Ichigo said.

"But why did you disappear a week ago?" Sakura asked. "Didn't Kisshu kidnap you?"

"No, his brother Pai kidnapped me, because apparently Kisshu was so miserable about the fact that I didn't love him back that he was refusing to eat," Ichigo said. "Pai brought me to their ship, and I managed to cheer Kisshu up. I realized that I really do love him, and that he feels the same. But then something caused Kisshu's emotions to get messed up, so I spent the last four days after Pai fixed that trying to keep him under control, because whatever Pai did to him made him act like a hyperactive six-year-old. And then Pudding gave him candy, and that made things worse. Today's the first day he's been actually calm."

"What I got out of your long explanation was that you spent your time taking care of someone special to you, so I'm willing to let it go," Sakura said. "I suppose you two are dating now?"

"After we do something about the walking puppet," Kisshu said. "He was cheating on Ichigo with Mint. He's going _down." _

"I like the way you think," Shintaro said. "Anyone who hurts Ichigo goes down?"

"Pretty much," Kisshu said.

"Fine, you can date her…." Shintaro said. "But she has a curfew- no later than 11."

"Daaaad!" Ichigo wailed.

"We can work with that," Kisshu said. "I promise I'll have her home by eleven, sir."

"Good," Shintaro said.

Ichigo sighed, and said, "Can we go kill the walking puppet now?"

Kisshu smirked. "Transform and let's go," he said. Ichigo grabbed her pendant off her desk, transformed, and said, "I'm set, let's go find him."

Kisshu closed his eyes and concentrated, then said, "He's with Mint, is that a problem?"

"Not if we take him somewhere else to kill him," Ichigo said.

"Got it," Kisshu said, and took her hand, then teleported.

**Sort of a cliffie…. Review plz! And don't worry, I'll have the next chapter out soon!**


	5. Killing the Walking Puppet

**Depression Chapter 5:**

**Killing the Walking Puppet**

Kisshu teleported Ichigo to a park, where Mint and Aoyuck were eating ice cream together. "Let's sneak up on them," Ichigo whispered. Kisshu smirked, and he and Ichigo quietly came up behind the bench they were sitting on. The two lovebirds didn't notice- at least until Kisshu shouted, "BOO!" Then they screamed, and spun around.

Kisshu didn't give them a chance to do anything; instead, he grabbed Aoyuck by the neck, took Ichigo's hand, and teleported. They landed in a remote-looking field, and Kisshu let go of Aoyuck, then got out his Dragon Swords. Ichigo got out her Strawberry Bell, and they both looked at the walking puppet.

"Wh-what are you going to do to me?" Aoyuck asked shakily.

"We're going to kill you," Kisshu said off-handedly. "You were cheating on Ichigo."

"THAT'S the only reason?" Aoyuck asked incredulously.

"Yep, you're going to pay for being an evil cheater," Ichigo said. "Ready, Kisshu?"

"Ladies first," Kisshu smirked. Ichigo smirked back, and noticed the walking puppet was inching away from her. "RIBON… STRAWBERRY SURPRISE!" Ichigo shouted. The attack was dead on, and Kisshu took advantage of this to plunge his swords into Aoyuck's heart.

Aoyuck screamed as Kisshu ripped the blades out again. Soon after, he collapsed, dead. "Let's destroy the body!" Kisshu said. "We could combine our attacks."

"Sure," Ichigo said. Kisshu smirked and created an energy ball, which he merged with Ichigo's Strawberry Surprise. The combined effect incinerated the walking puppet, and Ichigo and Kisshu screamed, "YES! He's gone!" They hi-fived each other, and then made their weapons disappear.

"Where to now?" Kisshu asked.

"We should tell my parents and the others that he's dead," Ichigo said. "But let's not tell Mint yet."

"Your house first?" Kisshu asked.

Ichigo smiled. "Let's go."

They landed in Ichigo's room and went downstairs. Sakura was in the kitchen, and she said, "Oh, you're back already?"

"Yep," Ichigo said.

Shintaro came in and asked, "How'd it go?"

"We killed him and destroyed the body," Kisshu said.

"ALRIGHT!" Shintaro shouted. "Great job!"

"Thanks," Kisshu said. "It was fun."

"Yep," Ichigo said. "He got so scared before we killed him."

"We're going to go tell our other friends that he's dead," Kisshu said. "Except for Mint, she can stay in the dark."

"Okay, just make sure they don't tell," Shintaro said.

"Yep," Ichigo said, and then Kisshu teleported her back to the ship.

They found Pai in the main room, and Kisshu said, "We're back!"

"Where WERE you?" Pai asked.

"We went to kill the walking puppet," Ichigo said. "He was easy game. And we destroyed his remains."

Pai sighed. "You'd better hope no one saw you," he said.

"We went to a deserted field, we can't have been seen," Kisshu said. "And now he's gone for good!"

"Good for you," Pai said. "Have you been to Café Mew Mew?"

"No, why?" Ichigo asked.

"Lettuce says Ryou's pretty mad that you disappeared," Pai said.

"Great…. I guess I won't be going there for a while," Ichigo said. "Not that I liked working for that jerk in the first place."

"Why not tell him you're quitting?" Kisshu suggested.

Ichigo looked thoughtful. "I would like to see the look on his face when I tell him I've had it," she said. "Can you teleport me?"

"Sure," Kisshu said with a grin. He took her hand and teleported to Café Mew Mew.

They landed in the basement, and saw that no one was there. "I guess we should go upstairs," Ichigo said. Kisshu followed her upstairs, and to the kitchen. Sure enough, Ryou and Keiichiro were in there, and they looked up as Ichigo and Kisshu walked in.

"Ichigo, what is HE doing here?" Ryou snarled, glaring at Kisshu.

"Kisshu teleported me here so I could tell you I'm quitting," Ichigo said.

Ryou looked shocked. "Y-you can't quit," he said.

"Why?" Ichigo asked. "I'm not a slave, you know."

"You're a Mew Mew, you need to stay here," Ryou said firmly.

Ichigo smirked. "Too bad, I'm sick of you treating me like dirt," she said. "News flash- I can make my own decisions, so you can stay out of my life from now on. And just so you know, I'm dating Kisshu, so the fact that Lettuce told me you like me is now unimportant. I don't care if you want me to fall in love with you, I hate you, so you can stay out of my life."

"My feelings don't mean anything to you?" Ryou asked.

"Not really, until recently I was under the impression that you could care less whether I had feelings or not," Ichigo said. "If Lettuce hadn't told me you had a crush on me, I would never have suspected a thing. You're so nasty to me I thought you hated me, even though I'm the one who does all the work. So I'm quitting, and you can go find someone else. Maybe Mint would be interested."

"Why Mint?" Ryou asked.

"We just got rid of the walking puppet, because he was going out with Mint behind Ichigo's back," Kisshu said.

"Then there's no way I'll go out with Mint if she's helping someone cheat," Ryou said. "She'd probably find someone else and cheat on me."

"Oh well," Ichigo said. "Kisshu, let's go."

Kisshu took her hand, and teleported. They landed in his room, and Ichigo said, "Well, that's done. Ryou's not happy, but he'll get over it. What do you want to do now?"

Kisshu smirked. "Make out?" he suggested. To his surprise, Ichigo smirked, and jumped on him. Before he could ask what she was doing, he felt fingers on his stomach, and Ichigo said, "Tickle war!"

Kisshu laughed and started tickling her back. She squeaked and tickled his stomach. Kisshu burst out laughing, and soon he was laughing too hard to tickle her. "HA! I win!" Ichigo said.

"Okay… fine…." Kisshu gasped, out of breath from laughing too hard. Ichigo got off of him, and laid down next to him. They looked at each other, smiling. "I love you, Koneko-chan," Kisshu said.

Ichigo smiled. "I love you too, Kisshu."

Kisshu smiled happily, then yawned. "Tired?" Ichigo asked him.

"Yeah… too much tickling…." Kisshu said sleepily. "Can we sleep together again?"

"Sure," Ichigo said. She climbed in next to Kisshu, who was already half-asleep. As soon as she laid back, he snuggled up to her and fell asleep. She started stroking his hair, and he sighed happily. Eventually the stroking motion put Ichigo to sleep as well.

They were woken up the next morning by Pai banging on the door, yelling, "We've got a problem!"

Ichigo sighed and shook Kisshu, who had pulled the blankets over his head when Pai started banging on the door. When that didn't work, she sighed and got up to let Pai in. "What's the problem, Pai?" Ichigo asked.

"Ryou kind of went berserk after you quit, and kidnapped Lettuce, Pudding and Taruto," Pai said grimly. "He sent a message that says if we want to see them alive again, you have to agree to become his girlfriend."

"There's no way in hell I'm going to be that bastard's girlfriend," Ichigo said. "Let's think up something else."

"Okay," Pai said. "Hey, why hasn't Kisshu woken up yet?"

"We had a tickle war last night, maybe he's still tired," Ichigo suggested.

Pai sighed. Then he came over and yanked the blanket off. Kisshu groaned and sat up. "Did you have to, Pai?" he asked grouchily.

"We've got an emergency to deal with, and we need you awake for that," Pai said. "If you're not awake, Ryou's going to make Ichigo be his girlfriend, and you don't want that, right?"

"Ryou's going down," Kisshu snarled.

"That's better," Pai said. "Let's start planning what to do."

"Why not just kill him?" Kisshu suggested.

"Because he's holding Lettuce, Taruto and Pudding hostage," Pai said. "And he'll probably expect that."

"What if I turn into a cat, and then make him try to catch me?" Ichigo asked. "He'll be trying to get me, so you two can go free everyone."

"Um…. how are you planning on turning into a cat?" Pai asked.

"Well, normally it happens when my emotions get out of control," Ichigo said. "Ryou figured out that if he kissed me, I would turn into a cat. Yet another reason I hated him; he was continually turning me into a cat without my permission."

"So you think you have to kiss Blondie to make this work?" Kisshu asked.

"Not necessarily," Ichigo said. "If Pai has something that will alter my DNA again, maybe I could turn into a cat at will."

"You mean you can't do that at will?" Pai asked.

Ichigo looked thoughtful. "I've never tried," she admitted. "Maybe I should try it." She closed her eyes and concentrated, imagining herself in cat form. Suddenly she felt herself start to change, and with a POOF, she turned into a cat. "Wow, that's cool," Kisshu said, looking down at her.

"Let's go," Pai said. "We can tell Ryou Ichigo turned into a cat because you scared her, and then she can act as a distraction while you and I get the others free."

"Okay," Kisshu said. Ichigo was curled up on his lap, purring. "Come on, Koneko-chan, let's go," Kisshu said. He picked her up, and she looked up at him. He smiled. "It'll be fine," he said.

Ichigo settled down in Kisshu's arms, and he and Pai teleported to Café Mew Mew.

**Ooh…. What's going to happen now? Review and find out!**


	6. Showdown at Cafe Mew Mew

**Depression Chapter 6:**

**Showdown at Café Mew Mew**

Kisshu, carrying Neko Ichigo, and Pai teleported into Café Mew Mew, landing in the main room. They immediately saw Taruto, Lettuce, and Pudding tied up and unconscious in the middle of the room, and Ryou standing over them. He looked up, hearing the teleportation.

"So, where's Ichigo?" Ryou asked.

"Kisshu accidentally turned her into a cat," Pai said. "Interesting talent she's got there."

"Did she agree to be mine?" Ryou asked.

"Only if you free her friends," Pai said.

To his worry, Ryou smirked. "I said you could see them alive, I didn't say anything about letting them go," he said.

"What are you planning?" Pai asked.

"If I brainwash them, you two losers can get taken down by the people you care about most," Ryou said. "Then I can have Ichigo, and you two can go to hell, along with the rest of your rotten race."

"And Taruto?" Pai asked.

"I'll kill him later," Ryou said with a shrug. "I'll have to find a way to make Pudding hate him first. Right now, even brainwashing won't break them apart."

"You're going to be the only one going to hell," Kisshu snarled. "And I will never let you have Ichigo."

"She'll fall for me eventually," Ryou said, shrugging. "A stupid alien can't compete with a human."

Ichigo hissed. "Myuu, nya myuu nyan," she said.

Ryou looked shocked. "Why would you choose him over me?" he asked, plainly appalled.

"Nya, nya myuu myuu nya mya, MYUU!" Ichigo said.

"Well, it won't matter once I've brainwashed the lot of you whether I kidnapped your friends or not," Ryou said. "You won't remember. And you won't remember you loved Kisshu, either."

"Nya," Ichigo said, sticking her nose in the air. Completely ignoring Ryou now, she clawed her way up to Kisshu's shoulder and started rubbing her face against his ear. Kisshu giggled. "That tickles, Koneko-chan," he said. Ichigo purred and settled down on his shoulder, then smirked at Ryou, who turned red.

"You're going to pay, all of you," Ryou snarled.

"Seems like an empty threat right about now," Kisshu said.

"Oh? Well, I still have your friends," Ryou said. "What are you going to do about that?"

Pai teleported, and reappeared behind Ryou, then grabbed Pudding, Taruto and Lettuce and teleported out. "It looks like you're out of luck, Blondie," Kisshu said. "Your hostages are gone. What will you do now that you've got no leverage over any of us?"

Ryou launched himself at Kisshu, who flew out of reach. "Koneko-chan, hold on tight," Kisshu said, and summoned his Dragon Swords. Ryou took a knife out of his pocket, and Kisshu raised an eyebrow. "You think you can defeat me with _that_?" he asked.

"If Ichigo can beat you, I see no reason why I can't," Ryou said.

"Okay, first, you'll never be able to beat me with a pocket knife, and second, I've been going easy on the Mews because I love Ichigo," Kisshu said. "I'm the best warrior on my planet; if I actually wanted to kill the Mews, they would have been dead a looong time ago."

"Prove it," Ryou said.

Kisshu lunged forward, and Ryou brought up his blade. Kisshu crossed his swords, and twisted them around Ryou's blade. Then he wrenched the pocket knife out of Ryou's hand. He picked up the knife, and letting his blades disappear, snapped Ryou's blade in half with his bare hands. Then he threw the pieces away. "What are you going to do now?" Kisshu asked.

Ryou was starting to look nervous, and didn't reply. Kisshu smirked. "Not much you can do to me anyways," he said. "Ja ne!" He teleported out, leaving Ryou steaming.

Kisshu landed in the main room of the ship, and found Pai and the others waiting. "Everyone okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're all fine," Taruto said. "Did you kill Ryou?"

"No, I just snapped his knife in half, and told him there's not much he could do to me with a pocket knife," Kisshu said. "Besides, he kidnapped you guys, so I thought I'd come back and see if you wanted a chance at revenge."

"Thanks," Pai said. "Where's Ichigo?"

Kisshu looked at his shoulder. "She was on my shoulder," he said.

"Pudding found her, na no da!" Pudding said. The others looked, and saw Ichigo attached to one of Taruto's ribbons.

"Yaah! Get off, you old hag!" Taruto shrieked. He reached over to get her off. Big mistake. She sank her claws into his hand, and continued chewing on his ribbon at the same time. Taruto screamed, "That HURTS!"

"Maybe if you apologize for calling Ichigo-san an 'old hag', she'll let go," Lettuce suggested. "You really shouldn't call her that anyways."

"Fine… Ichigo, I'm sorry I called you an old hag," Taruto said. "Can you take your claws out of my hand now?"

Ichigo nya'd sadly, and took her claws out of Taruto's hand. Then she stopped chewing on his ribbon, and started licking blood off her paw. Taruto looked at the end of his ribbon, which was now rather raggedy, and sighed. "Really, Ichigo, did you have to try to eat my ribbon?" he asked.

Ichigo looked at him innocently. Then she went and rubbed against Kisshu's legs. "Do you want to change back at some point?" he asked her. Ichigo closed her eyes and concentrated, then POOFed back to normal.

"I'm back," she said. "Being a cat has its advantages, one of them being claws."

"Yes, we noticed," Pai said dryly. "But did you have to eat Taruto's ribbon?"

"I wasn't eating it, I was playing with it," Ichigo said. "Kittens chew on things."

"Can we go kill Blondie now?" Taruto asked.

"Sure, who else is coming?" Pai asked.

"I'm coming," Taruto said.

"Pudding wants to go too, na no da," Pudding said.

"I'll stay here," Lettuce said.

"I want to see him go down," Ichigo said. "I'll help if need be though."

"I'll go too," Kisshu said with a smirk. "Me and Ichigo will cheer you all on."

"Then let's go," Pai said. "Pudding, transform."

Pudding transformed, and Taruto took her hand. Kisshu took Ichigo's hand, and they all teleported to Café Mew Mew again.

This time there was no one in the main room, but they heard noises from the stairs to the basement, so they went over and looked down. Ryou was standing at the bottom of the stairs with Keiichiro, and they were arguing.

"Just because you love Ichigo does not give you the right to kidnap her friends and hold them hostage until she agrees to break up with Kisshu!" Keiichiro said in exasperation. "Are you insane or something?"

"NO, I am not," Ryou said angrily. "She's going to learn to love me, even if I have to brainwash her to have that happen."

"Too bad I destroyed your brainwashing device a week ago," Keiichiro said with a smirk. "I found it, and I knew you were plotting something. So I destroyed it. Ichigo's happy now. If you really loved her, you'd want her to be happy, not force her to love you, which will never happen anyways."

"I do love her, I just don't think that damn alien is going to do the right thing by her!" Ryou protested. "And he's already figured out how to turn her into a cat. That can't be good."

"Kisshu truly loves Ichigo and would never harm her," Keiichiro said. "If you weren't so jealous of him, you'd see that for yourself. And if you weren't so blind, you'd have realized that Kisshu didn't turn Ichigo into a cat- she did it herself to save her friends from you. If she showed Kisshu her cat form, it means she really trusts him- which is more than I can say for you. Get this through your head, Ryou: Ichigo hates you. She would never go out with a guy who treated her the way you did. You turned her into a cat against her will, you were nasty to her every time she saw you, you kept docking her paycheck just to get a laugh out of the look on her face, and you overworked her more than anyone else. I'm not surprised she quit, though I am surprised she didn't tell her father you've been kissing her against her will. You do realize that Mr. Momomiya has a sword, right?"

"Since when?" Ryou asked skeptically.

"He informed me that if Ichigo ever got hurt by you, he'd be over with his authentic Japanese katana," Keiichiro said. "And knowing how overprotective the man is, you should be glad he doesn't know that you've been sexually harassing his daughter. I imagine Ichigo didn't want her father to go to jail, which is the only reason you're still alive."

"As if he could beat me anyways," Ryou said dismissively.

"Well, even if he can't, Kisshu can," Keiichiro said. "I believe I'll go tell the police that I just got back from a baker's convention and found you trying to brainwash your employees."

"You wouldn't," Ryou said.

"You're a danger to others, it's better if someone who's trained to do this handles it before Kisshu kills you," Keiichiro said. "And I don't think blood will look good on the Café floors. But I don't want to disappoint the others, so if you'd prefer, I could let them kill you, instead of sending you to jail."

"They'd have to find me first," Ryou said.

"Considering the fact that the lot of them are currently listening to every word we're saying, I don't think it'll be that hard," Keiichiro said. Over his shoulder he said, "You guys can come out now."

"Fine," Pai said. "How did you know we were there?"

"I heard the teleportation earlier," Keiichiro said as the group came down the stairs.

Ryou looked panicked as the group came to stand with Keiichiro. "Ichigo, why do you have to love that freak? Why can't you see that I love you, and that I'm way better than he is?" Ryou asked.

Ichigo turned red and shouted, "Kisshu is not a freak! I'd NEVER date a jerk like you."

"Even if I'm nice?" Ryou asked.

Ichigo snarled and said, "Kisshu, can I have your swords?"

"Sure…." Kisshu said. He summoned his Dragon Swords and handed them to Ichigo. She pecked him on the cheek and said, "Keiichiro, you might want to back up a bit."

Keiichiro obeyed as Ichigo lunged at Ryou, who dodged. "I'd be way better," he told Ichigo.

"Too late," Ichigo snarled back, and pinned Ryou against the wall with Kisshu's swords. "Any last words?" she asked.

"I love you," Ryou said.

"Well, I don't," Ichigo said, and stabbed him through the heart. "I'm sick of the way you treat me and all my friends. And Keiichiro's right, you're a danger to others." By this point, Ryou was dead, so Ichigo let him drop, and turned to the others. "Sorry I didn't let you guys have your revenge for the kidnappings," she told Pai, Taruto and Pudding.

"We can still destroy his remains," Pai said. "It's not good to leave a dead body lying around anyways."

"You guys can do that, I'll take Koneko-chan to get cleaned up," Kisshu said. Ichigo handed him his swords back, and he made them disappear. "Your clothes are a bit messy," he told her. "Let's go back to your house and get new ones."

Ichigo looked at herself and winced. The front of her shirt was pretty bloody. She looked at Kisshu, who smiled and teleported her to her house.

**I know it's a bad chapter ending, but I kind of wanted to work on Sick Day. I might be too tired though. So, review plz, and I'll try to have more out soon.**


	7. Ichigo's Diary

**Depression Chapter 7:**

**Ichigo's Diary**

Kisshu teleported Ichigo back to her house, and they landed in her room. Sakura was walking past the open door, and she shrieked when she saw them. "Ichigo, why are you covered in BLOOD!?" she screamed.

"I killed Ryou, he was trying to brainwash us all," Ichigo said. "Pai and the others are currently destroying his remains. Don't worry, I didn't get hurt."

"Okay…." Sakura said. "I suppose you need to change, and that's why you're back?"

"Yep," Ichigo said. "I think I'll take a shower, so Kisshu, wait here."

Kisshu sighed. "Fine…" he said. Ichigo gathered up some clothes and left. Kisshu sighed again, but then noticed a pink fluffy thing on Ichigo's desk. He went over and saw it said, 'Diary' on the front. Being Kisshu, he decided it might be fun to go through Ichigo's diary. So he opened to a page near the middle, figuring the early entries would be about the walking puppet. Then he started reading.

_Dear Diary,_

_I think Masaya and I are growing apart. I guess I don't really mind, for some reason, all I can think about is Kisshu. I'm starting to wonder what I saw in Masaya in the first place. Kisshu's wonderful- except for the 'toy' comments he makes. Is that really all he sees me as? I hope that's not the case. He's always so playful, and I keep getting lost in his eyes. I've never seen such a beautiful gold color. If he didn't call me a toy, I'd dump Masaya. But I think that's how he sees me- a toy that can be thrown aside when he gets bored. I can't think of any other reason why he'd repeatedly call me his toy. It's too bad. I know I've fallen for him, but it probably wouldn't work out, since he doesn't feel the same. And I know that Blondie would have a fit if I started dating Kisshu. Not that I care. Blondie is totally evil. I love that nickname for him. Kisshu came up with it. I like my nickname too, I think it's cute. Kisshu calls me 'Koneko-chan'. It's too bad I know he's only toying with me. I could get used to being called that. It makes me happy, even though I know he'll eventually get bored and stop calling me that. I wish he loved me the way I love him._

_-Koneko-chan (I love signing off like that)._

By the time he finished reading, Kisshu was in tears. Suddenly he started feeling dizzy too, but before he could figure out why, he completely lost consciousness.

_**Five minutes later: **_Ichigo came back into her room- and stopped dead. Kisshu was lying on the floor, his face tearstained, clearly unconscious. Ichigo looked around, and saw her diary lying open on her desk. She immediately ran over and skimmed the page Kisshu had been reading. Then she smacked herself in the forehead. _Of all the things in that diary he could have read, it just HAD to be that page, _she thought. _But why did he collapse? Unless- he was so hurt he went into shock or something. Great….._

Ichigo closed the diary, then threw it into her trash basket. Then she went to Kisshu and knelt. "Kisshu? Can you hear me?" she asked, shaking him. He didn't even stir. She put a hand on his forehead- and her eyes widened. Kisshu was burning up. Scared, Ichigo picked him up, then tucked him into her bed. Then she ran to the bathroom, and grabbed a washcloth, soaked it in ice cold water, and ran back to her room. She put it over Kisshu's forehead, and grabbed her cell phone. She scrolled through her contacts till she found Pai's number, then immediately hit Send.

She waited as it rang, fingers crossed. Finally she heard Pai say, _"Ichigo?"_

"I need you to come to my house, something's wrong with Kisshu," Ichigo said.

"_I'm on my way," _Pai said.

He teleported in five minutes later, and said, "What happened?"

"He read the page of my diary that was when I was talking about how I loved him, but I didn't think he felt the same while I was in the shower, and when I came back, I found him collapsed on the floor with a pretty high fever," Ichigo said. "And I can't wake him up."

Pai sighed. "I guess I'll have to wait on lecturing him about respecting others' privacy," he said. "I'll see what I can do." He went over to the bed, and put a hand on Kisshu's forehead. His eyes widened, and he quickly put his other hand on Kisshu's chest, then began to glow.

Ten minutes later, the glow faded, and Pai took his hands away. "That should do it," Pai said. "When he wakes up, though, we're going to have to tell him he's in no condition to get up. Can he stay here? I don't think it's a good idea to move him."

"I'll go tell my parents," Ichigo said. "Stay with him." Pai nodded, and Ichigo went downstairs. Sakura was in the kitchen, and Ichigo went in, then said, "Mom, Kisshu needs to stay here for a while, okay?"

"What happened?" Sakura asked, sounding worried.

"I think he went into shock," Ichigo said. "Pai just got rid of his fever, but said that Kisshu shouldn't be moved right now."

"That's fine, and I'll keep your father under control," Sakura said.

"Thanks Mom," Ichigo said, and went back upstairs. Pai was sitting in her desk chair, and Kisshu was still unconscious. "Mom said it's fine," Ichigo said softly. "Is he going to be okay?"

"He should be fine with some rest," Pai said. "But you're going to need to stay with him. I looked at what he read, and I think he's going to need you to stay, or he'll start worrying that you don't like him. He's currently in emotional shock, and he's probably going to be kind of clingy again. He won't be hyper, though; he's too weak for that."

"I understand, and I'll stay with him," Ichigo said.

Pai nodded, but then they both noticed Kisshu was stirring. "Kisshu?" Ichigo asked softly.

"Koneko-chan?" Kisshu asked.

"I'm right here," Ichigo said, sitting down next to him.

"Do you still love me?" Kisshu asked sadly.

"Of course!" Ichigo said. "Why are you asking?"

"I read your diary…" Kisshu said sadly. "I didn't realize I was hurting you that much."

"I know that now," Ichigo said. "You don't have to worry, I love you."

Kisshu sighed. "How are you feeling?" Ichigo asked.

"Not great," Kisshu said. "I feel really weak. What happened?"

Pai came over and said, "You went into shock from reading Ichigo's diary. You're going to have to take it easy for a while, until you regain your strength. I took care of your fever, though."

Kisshu sighed again. "I don't like diaries..." he said sadly.

"I'm sorry I left mine lying around in plain sight," Ichigo said. "I guess it was too tempting."

"Kisshu should know better," Pai said. "Don't blame yourself."

"Pai, do you like Ichigo? You're being actually nice," Kisshu said.

"Not the way you like her," Pai said. "She's a friend, like Pudding, and you and Taruto."

"You're nicer to her than you are to me…." Kisshu said sadly.

"She doesn't go through my diary in order to find blackmail material," Pai said. "You do that on a regular basis. And you tease me nonstop about being insane. I'm NOT insane!"

Ichigo was giggling. "Kisshu, do you really go through Pai's diary and blackmail him?" she asked.

"Yep," Kisshu said, cheering up a bit. "It's fun to find his hiding places, kind of like a treasure hunt. One time he hid it on his bookshelf, thinking that with all the books he has, I'd never find it. Unfortunately for him, that bookshelf was the Finless Porpoise bookshelf, so it was easy to spot the diary."

"Finless Porpoise bookshelf?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah, Pai has a whole bookshelf on Finless Porpoises, because until he and Lettuce got together, he thought he could understand her better if he studied her Mew animal," Kisshu said. "Lettuce doesn't know, but I use it to my advantage when I want something from Pai. All I have to do is say, "I'll tell Lettuce about the bookshelf", and he agrees to whatever I want. It's fun."

"I'd like to see Lettuce's reaction to that little tidbit of information," Ichigo said.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Pai screamed. "PLEASE don't tell her!"

Sakura ran in before Ichigo could reply, and said, "I heard screaming, is everything okay?"

"Sorry, Pai's just scared I'll tell Lettuce his secret," Ichigo said. "Pai was the one screaming."

Sakura sighed, and said, "Please don't scream, it scares me."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Momomiya," Pai said sheepishly.

Sakura nodded, then went over to Ichigo and Kisshu, and asked, "Kisshu, how are you feeling?"

"I'm not as sad, but I feel really weak," Kisshu said.

Sakura put a hand on his forehead. "You don't have a fever, so that's good," she said. "Do you want something to eat?"

"No thanks, I'm getting tired again," Kisshu said.

Sakura looked at Ichigo's clock. "Wow, it's almost ten at night," she said. "I think you both should get some sleep."

"K…" Kisshu said. "Koneko-chan, can we sleep together again?"

"Yep, let me get my pajamas on," Ichigo said. She left and got changed, then came back. Pai was gone, but Sakura was still there, and she said, "I'll keep your dad out, he'll blow a fuse if he sees you sleeping together."

"Thanks Mom," Ichigo said. Sakura smiled and left as Ichigo got under the covers with Kisshu, who snuggled against her as he fell asleep. Ichigo was soon asleep as well.

The next morning, Kisshu woke up before Ichigo, and realized he was feeling stronger. He wasn't really up for standing, but he tried sitting up, and didn't have any trouble. Then he noticed Ichigo was starting to wake up. "Koneko-chan?" he asked.

"Morning, are you feeling better?" Ichigo asked.

"I can sit up, but I don't think I can stand," Kisshu said.

"Do you want me to get you something to eat?" Ichigo asked.

"Yes please," Kisshu said.

Ichigo smiled and went downstairs. She looked around and found a loaf of some kind of bread, so she cut some, and brought it back to Kisshu. "I found some kind of sweet bread," Ichigo said.

"Okay," Kisshu said. He took the plate Ichigo handed him, and took a bite of the bread. He swallowed, but then his eyes widened. "That tasted like bananas," he said.

"You don't like bananas?" Ichigo asked.

"I like them, but I'm really allergic to them," Kisshu said. "You might want to bring a bucket in here, I can't stand up yet."

"On my way," Ichigo said. She took the plate back, and set it on her desk before going to the closet and grabbing a bucket. She took it back to her room, and saw that Kisshu was looking pretty green. She immediately came over and handed him the bucket. He took it, then put it on his lap. About a minute later, he was throwing up everything he had eaten the day before, and Ichigo was rubbing his back soothingly. When it looked like he was done, he turned to Ichigo, and was about to say something, but then clapped his hand over his mouth and turned back to the bucket. Then he started throwing up again.

Finally he got everything out, and sighed. "I'm really sorry, Kisshu," Ichigo said.

"No, I should have warned you that I'm this allergic to bananas," Kisshu said. "Unfortunately, now it's going to take longer for me to recover from yesterday."

"Do you think Pai could help?" Ichigo asked.

"That's an idea," Kisshu said. "Can you call him?"

"Sure," Ichigo said, picking up her cell phone. She found Pai's number, and pressed Send. When Pai picked up, Ichigo said, "Pai, Kisshu got sick from eating a piece of banana bread, are you able to help?"

"_On my way," _Pai said, and hung up. A minute later, he teleported in and said, "Kisshu, WHY did you eat banana bread?"

"I didn't know what it was, and I forgot to tell Ichigo about my allergy," Kisshu said. "My stomach feels horrible, can you lecture me later?"

"Fine… lie down," Pai said. Kisshu obeyed, and Pai put a hand on his stomach. His hand began to glow, and about five minutes later, Pai said, "How's it feeling now?"

"Better, thanks Pai," Kisshu said.

Pai sighed. "You can't eat anything till tomorrow, okay?" he asked. "I took care of the banana problem, but eat anything else, and you'll get another upset stomach. You can have water, though."

"Fine…" Kisshu said. "I still can't stand up."

"Well, sitting up is an improvement over yesterday," Pai said. "You'll be better soon. Till then, don't push yourself. You need to rest to regain your strength."

"Okay…." Kisshu said, sounding tired. Ichigo noticed and said, "Go back to sleep, Kisshu. I'll go tell my mom you're allergic to bananas, but I'll come right back, k?"

"Sure…" Kisshu said. Ichigo smiled at him and left. She went to the kitchen, put the banana bread Kisshu hadn't eaten on the counter, then went to find Sakura.

She was in the living room, and looked up as Ichigo came in. "What's up?" she asked.

"I just wanted to let you know that Kisshu's extremely allergic to bananas," Ichigo said. "Pai managed to take care of the sickness from eating some banana bread, but I think it might be a good idea to keep it wrapped up in a cabinet or something."

"I'll go do that," Sakura said. "Aside from the banana problem, how's he doing?"

"He can sit up now, but he can't stand up," Ichigo said. "I think it'll take a few days before he's back on his feet."

"Okay," Sakura said. "He's welcome to stay as long as he wants."

"Thanks Mom," Ichigo said. She went back upstairs, and found that Pai was gone, and Kisshu was still awake. "Kisshu, why aren't you sleeping?" Ichigo asked.

"I wanted to make sure you were here…." Kisshu said.

"Well, I'm here now, and I'll stay, so go to sleep," Ichigo said, ruffling Kisshu's hair. Kisshu sighed happily, liking the sensation, and fell asleep. Ichigo sat down next to him, and continued stroking his hair, smiling as he leaned into her hand like a cat.

**I know Kisshu getting sick is a recurring theme, but I like Ichigo playing with his hair, and all the fluff and snuggles, so just don't flame me if you don't like it, k? Review!**


	8. Pai's Weakness

**Depression Chapter 8:**

**Pai's Weakness**

Ichigo was still sitting next to Kisshu about an hour later. She had discovered that even though he was sleeping, he seemed to notice when she stopped stroking his hair, and started looking unhappy in his sleep until she started stroking his hair again. Then he'd go back to being happy, and lean into her hand again.

Half an hour later, Ichigo's arm and wrist were getting tired from the constant stroking motion, and she decided to stop. She took her hand away, and Kisshu shifted in his sleep. Figuring he could handle it, Ichigo went and got a book. She didn't even get the book open before Kisshu made a small noise in his sleep. It sounded sad, and Ichigo sighed. _I know he needs rest, but I didn't realize that he'd need me stroking his hair for him to actually sleep, _she thought. _I guess Pai was right about the clinginess. Unfortunately, my arm's about to fall off, so I guess he'll just have to tough it out._

She noticed Kisshu was starting to stir, and waited a minute, then said, "Kisshu?"

Kisshu opened his eyes, and looked at her. "Do you still love me?" he asked.

"Of course," Ichigo said. "And I know you seem to like me stroking your hair, but I've been doing that for nearly two hours, and my arm's about to fall off."

Kisshu sat up, looking sad. Ichigo noticed, and said gently, "Kisshu, just because I'm not stroking your hair doesn't mean I don't love you. I really love you, but my arm needs a break, k?"

Kisshu just sighed sadly. Ichigo sat on the bed with him, then pulled him into her arms. "Are you getting depressed again?" she asked.

"Maybe…" Kisshu said.

"Would a kiss cheer you up?" Ichigo asked.

"Not sure…" Kisshu said.

"Okay, if you don't think a kiss is going to cheer you up, I'm calling Pai," Ichigo said. "You're not doing too well." She grabbed her cell phone, found Pai's number, and pressed Send.

After two rings, she heard a sigh. _"What happened this time?" _Pai asked.

"Kisshu's gone back to being really depressed," Ichigo said. "And he says a kiss won't cheer him up."

"_Okay, now I'm worried," _Pai said. _"I'll be right over." _He hung up, and Ichigo put her cell phone aside.

Sakura came in a minute later, and said, "How's it going?"

"Not good, I just called Pai again," Ichigo said. "Kisshu's gone into depression again."

Sakura looked at Kisshu, who was glumly looking at his hands. She came over and sat down with him and Ichigo, and said gently, "Kisshu, do you know why you're depressed?"

"No…" Kisshu said. "I'm just sad."

Sakura put a hand on his forehead. "You don't have a fever," she said.

Pai teleported in, and said, "Kisshu, I'm going to see if I can figure out what's wrong, k?"

"Mmhm…." Kisshu said sadly. Pai sighed and put a hand on his forehead, closing his eyes. Finally he opened his eyes. "I can't sense the problem," he said. "Ichigo, what happened while I was gone?"

"Kisshu was sleeping, and I noticed that every time I stopped stroking his hair, he looked unhappy," Ichigo said. "But my arm got really tired after about two hours, so I stopped, and he woke up, and he's been depressed since I told him my arm was about to fall off."

Pai looked puzzled. "Kisshu usually doesn't need someone stroking his hair to get him to fall asleep," he said. "The last time he needed that was when he realized it was the anniversary of his parents' deaths, and my mom had to stroke his hair to calm him down enough to sleep."

"Is it possible today's that day again?" Sakura asked.

"What's the date?" Pai asked.

"August 7th," Sakura said.

"Yep, today's the day," Pai said. "We're going to have to do something, I imagine that that combined with the fact that Kisshu's too weak to stand is what's making him this depressed."

"Any ideas?" Ichigo asked. "If kissing him won't work, I'm not sure what to do."

Pai looked at Kisshu, who was still looking down at his hands, and sighed. "I might as well put him to sleep for a while," he said reluctantly.

"I don't want to go back to sleep…." Kisshu said sadly.

"I'll be right back," Sakura said suddenly, and ran out, leaving Ichigo and Pai confused. Five minutes later, Sakura came back with a plate.

"Um… what's that?" Pai asked.

"Chocolate chunk raspberry bar," Sakura said. "It makes Ichigo feel better, I see no reason why it won't work on Kisshu." She handed the plate to Ichigo, who said, "Kisshu, try some of this, it'll make you feel better."

Kisshu looked at the plate listlessly, then took it and took a bite of the bar. He looked at it in surprise after swallowing, and took another bite. Soon he was done, and looking more cheerful. Ichigo looked at Pai, and noticed that he was drooling, while looking at the now-empty plate. "Pai, you're drooling," Ichigo said.

Kisshu looked at Pai, who was indeed drooling, and actually laughed. Pai turned red, and wiped his mouth as Kisshu continued laughing. Ichigo started giggling, and Sakura said, "Pai, did you want some too?"

"Yes please…" Pai said sheepishly. Kisshu smirked at him, and Pai shouted, "KISSHU! QUIT LAUGHING!"

Kisshu just burst out laughing again. Pai growled.

Ichigo suddenly got an idea, and poked Pai in the side, where she knew Kisshu was ticklish. She smirked when Pai said, "EEP!"

Kisshu looked over, and Ichigo poked Pai again. "It's like pressing one of those little toys that make noise," she said, causing Kisshu to double up laughing and Pai to glare at her. Ichigo just snickered and poked Pai again, producing another "Eep!"

Ichigo suddenly got an evil idea, and grabbed her cell phone. She dialed Lettuce's number, and as soon as she picked up, Ichigo said, "Hi Lettuce, wanna know what I discovered today?"

"_What?" _Lettuce asked, as Pai screamed, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Ichigo ignored him and said, "If you poke Pai in the side, he makes this totally weird noise. You should try it."

Lettuce started laughing, hard. Ichigo smirked and turned on speakerphone so Pai could hear her.

Kisshu started laughing again, and Lettuce giggled, _"Can I come over and try it?"_

"Sure, as long as Pai doesn't teleport away before you get here," Ichigo said.

"_I'm on my way, try to keep him there," _Lettuce said, and hung up.

Ichigo put the cell phone down, and noticed Pai was heading for the door. "You don't want to disappoint your girlfriend, right Pai?" Ichigo asked sweetly.

Pai sighed. He was starting to realize that maybe getting so involved with Ichigo had been a bad idea. She was WORSE than Kisshu. But this time, even though it was totally evil, she was right. He _didn't _want to disappoint Lettuce, even though he knew he'd be totally humiliated afterwards.

So he was still there ten minutes later, when the doorbell rang. "Mom, keep an eye on Pai, make sure he doesn't run for it," Ichigo said, and went to answer the door. She let Lettuce in, and said, "Pai's in my room, let's go."

"Why's Pai in your room?" Lettuce asked.

"That's where Kisshu is, and we were trying to cheer him up, it's the anniversary of his parents' deaths," Ichigo said. "Nothing worked until my mom gave him one of her desserts, and then we noticed Pai was drooling. I knew Kisshu was ticklish, so in order to keep him happy, I decided to see if Pai was ticklish."

Lettuce giggled. "You and Kisshu are so alike," she said, and eagerly followed Ichigo upstairs. Pai was still in Ichigo's room, looking nervous. Lettuce smirked, and went over to him, then poked him in the side. "EEP!" Pai said, then turned red as Lettuce fell over laughing, and Kisshu and Ichigo started laughing again too. By this point, even Sakura was giggling.

Ichigo said, "Now I have to call Pudding!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Pai screamed. "She'll tell Taruto!"

"That's the idea," Ichigo snickered. Before she could dial Pudding's number, though, Shintaro came through the door, and said, "What are you doing?"

Sakura poked Pai, producing another "eep", and said, "Pai's got a very interesting weakness." Then she burst out laughing too.

Ichigo was laughing almost too hard to talk, but said, "Dad, can you do me a favor?"

"What does it involve?" Shintaro asked warily.

"Calling Pudding, and asking her and Taruto to come to my room," Ichigo said.

"Koneko-chan, I already told Taruto, he'll get Pudding and come here," Kisshu gasped out.

"Does that mean I can leave and call the loony bin now?" Shintaro asked.

"You can leave, but you can't call the loony bin," Sakura said.

Shintaro sighed and said, "Fine, I'll be over at Micheru's house if you need me."

"Bye Dad," Ichigo snickered.

Two minutes after Shintaro left, Taruto teleported in with Pudding, and poked Pai in the side, producing another little "eep", which set the others off again. Pai was looking rather disgruntled. "Are you quite finished?" he asked.

"Look on the bright side, you cheered Kisshu up," Ichigo giggled.

Pai looked at Kisshu, who was laughing too hard to breathe, and said, "Yeah, whatever. Call me when he chokes from laughing like that. I'll try to make it here before he dies."

"That's not very nice, Pai," Sakura said.

"I don't like being laughed at," Pai said sulkily. "You don't notice me laughing when something happens to one of you, do you?"

"But Pai, you never laugh," Taruto said. "And when you do, everyone freaks out."

Before Pai could respond- or strangle Taruto- Kisshu started gasping for air. Ichigo, scared, looked at Pai, who looked away. "Kisshu, try to calm down," Ichigo said, patting him on the back. Kisshu couldn't respond, and Ichigo said, "Pai, Kisshu needs help. I'm sorry we got out of hand, and I know you're upset, but Kisshu needs help."

Pai sighed, looking back at them. Kisshu still couldn't breathe, and was looking scared. Pai came over and put a hand on Kisshu's chest- right before Kisshu passed out. Pai caught him, and helped him lie back, then put his hand back on Kisshu's chest. His eyes widened, and his hand began to glow, more brightly than usual. Ichigo noticed something then- Kisshu wasn't breathing. About a minute after Pai's hand started to glow, however, Kisshu took a deep breath, and started breathing again, though he didn't wake up.

Pai took his hand away nearly fifteen minutes later, and said, "He's going to need rest after that. He had stopped breathing from laughing so hard, and he's not doing too well right now. We need to keep him calm and quiet for a while, or he won't recover. He really shouldn't be moved, either, especially since teleporting could make him worse." Pai put a hand on Kisshu's forehead, and said, "He doesn't have a fever, but we need to keep him from doing anything even remotely energetic."

"I understand," Sakura said. "He can stay here as long as he needs to. Do you want to stay as well?"

"If you don't mind," Pai said. "If anything else happens, I'd be right here."

"I'll go set up the guest room," Sakura said. "What about Taruto?"

"Taru-Taru is staying with Pudding, na no da," Pudding said.

"Alright," Sakura said. "I'll go get the guest room ready, and it's nearly dinnertime. Pai, is there anything in particular that you think would be good for Kisshu?"

"Nothing too heavy, and he shouldn't be eating a lot," Pai said. "We also have to make sure he doesn't eat too fast."

"Alright, would noodles work?" Sakura asked. "I have a lot of noodle recipes."

"I think that's a good idea," Pai said.

Sakura nodded and left. Pai turned to Ichigo, and said, "Do you mind if I take Lettuce home? I'll be right back."

"Okay," Ichigo said. "I'll stay with Kisshu."

Pai nodded and teleported out with Lettuce.

**I think Pai's little weakness is funny. But don't flame me if you don't like the end part of the chapter. Review plz!**


	9. Kisshu's in Trouble

**Depression Chapter 9:**

**Kisshu's in Trouble**

Ichigo was still sitting next to Kisshu, having refused to come downstairs for dinner. It had been about three hours, and he hadn't moved, although he was at least still breathing.

Another hour and a half passed before Kisshu stirred, and Ichigo waited till he opened his eyes, then asked, "Kisshu?"

"Koneko-chan?" Kisshu asked. His voice was soft and very weak, making it hard to hear. If Ichigo hadn't had cat hearing, she probably wouldn't have heard him at all.

"I'm right here," Ichigo said softly, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"What happened to me?" Kisshu whispered.

"You stopped breathing for a few minutes, from laughing so hard," Ichigo said softly. "Pai said you're not doing too well right now, and you need to stay quiet and rest. Try not to talk too much, it'll tire you out."

"Can I still use telepathy?" Kisshu whispered.

"I'm not sure, but I can ask Pai," Ichigo said. "He told me to get him when you woke up anyways. I'll be right back." Kisshu sighed, and Ichigo smoothed his hair back before going to find Pai.

She found him in the living room, and said, "Pai, Kisshu woke up."

Pai jumped up and ran up the stairs, followed by Ichigo, who was wondering why he didn't just teleport. She noticed he slowed down as he came to her door, and realized that he probably didn't want to startle Kisshu in any way. She followed him in, and Kisshu looked up at them. "Pai?" he whispered.

"Yep," Pai said. He put a hand on Kisshu's chest, and sighed. "You're not doing well, Kisshu," he said. "You need to stay quiet and calm, and you're going to need a lot of rest. You can't move around a lot, and try not to talk unless you absolutely need to."

"Can I use telepathy?" Kisshu whispered.

"Yes, but not too much at a time," Pai said. "If you do it too much, it'll drain your energy away, and considering your current lack of energy, that could kill you."

"Can Ichigo still sleep with me?" Kisshu whispered.

Pai sighed. "Don't you usually get excited when she does that?" he asked.

"No, it relaxes me," Kisshu whispered.

"Alright, but if you start getting worse, she can't sleep with you anymore," Pai said. Kisshu sighed slightly, and Pai gave him a stern look. Then he turned to Ichigo, and said, "I'm going to give you the ability to speak telepathically, so if Kisshu gets worse, and I'm not in the room, you can call me."

"Thanks Pai," Ichigo said. "I assume you need me to stay with Kisshu?"

"If you need a break, you can call me, but it's better for you to be here than me," Pai said. "I talked to your parents, and they have both agreed to Kisshu and I staying here, at least until he's better. Your mom offered to help with watching him, but she and I are both going to keep your dad out, since Kisshu's scared of him."

"Okay, good," Ichigo said.

Pai turned back to Kisshu, and asked, "Kisshu, are you hungry?"

"Sort of," Kisshu whispered.

"I'll go get you some of the noodles Mrs. Momomiya made," Pai said. He left, and Ichigo sat down next to Kisshu on the bed. Kisshu turned his head to look at her.

"You'll be here?" he asked her. "You won't leave?"

Ichigo ruffled Kisshu's hair gently, and said, "I'll never leave you, Kisshu. I'll be here for you forever, k?"

"K," Kisshu said, sounding a bit happier.

Pai teleported back in with a bowl of noodles, and said, "Don't try sitting up, we'll help you."

Kisshu sighed. Ichigo helped him sit up, rearranging the pillows to support him. Pai handed her the bowl, and she told Kisshu, "Open up." He obeyed, and Ichigo fed him the noodles. When he was finished, she gave the bowl back to Pai, who took it downstairs.

He came back with Sakura, who said, "It's late, so bedtime, both of you."

"I'll go get my pajamas on," Ichigo said. She grabbed her pajamas and went to the bathroom, then put them on and brushed her teeth. She went back to her room, where she found Sakura and Pai still there.

They turned at the sound of her footsteps, and Sakura said, "We're leaving you two in peace, but first, Pai's got something he needs to give you."

Ichigo nodded, and Pai came over and put a hand on her forehead. A minute later, she felt something like an electric shock in her head, and Pai opened his eyes. "Focus on me and think what you want to say," he told her.

Ichigo concentrated, and said, _Can you hear me?_

_Yes, _Pai replied. Then aloud he said, "Alright, you should be able to use telepathy fine now."

"Thanks Pai," Ichigo said. Pai teleported out, and Ichigo climbed in with Kisshu. Sakura came over and kissed both their foreheads, then tucked them in. "Sleep well," she said. "I'll keep your father away from both of you till Kisshu can defend himself."

"Thanks Mom," Ichigo said. Sakura smiled and turned out the light, closing the door as she left.

The next morning, Ichigo woke up before Kisshu, noticing he wasn't hugging her like usual. She figured it had something to do with the fact that he was almost too weak to move. She put a gentle hand on his forehead, and sighed with relief. He didn't have a fever. She gently eased herself out of bed, trying not to wake Kisshu. He stirred a bit, but didn't wake up. She looked at the clock, and saw that it was about ten AM.

Deciding Pai was up by this point, Ichigo called him telepathically, and asked, _Can you watch Kisshu while I get cleaned up?_

Pai replied, _I'm on my way._

Ichigo got some clothes together, and Pai walked in a minute later. He sat in a chair while Ichigo went to take her shower.

When she got back, Kisshu was just starting to wake up. Ichigo came over and sat next to him, and he looked at her.

"How are you feeling?" Ichigo asked him softly.

"Not any better," Kisshu whispered. "I don't think I should talk above a whisper, either. It makes my chest feel funny."

"That doesn't sound good," Pai said. "Ichigo, move over, I'm going to check on what might be causing that."

Ichigo got up, and Pai put his right hand on Kisshu's throat, and his left on Kisshu's chest. Finally he sighed. "You're going to have to tough it out," he told Kisshu. "The funny feeling is from being so weak. Your voice will get stronger as the rest of you does."

Kisshu sighed. Ichigo came over and ruffled his hair. A minute later, Ichigo and Kisshu jumped as someone started shouting outside. Ichigo sighed. "Sounds like my dad," she said disgustedly. "Does he ever listen?"

"Apparently not," Pai said. "Should I go?"

"No, he's most likely shouting about the fact that you and Kisshu are staying here," Ichigo said. "I'll go, and if he doesn't like it, tough." She got up, and said, "Stay with Kisshu, Pai."

Pai nodded, and Ichigo left, closing the door behind her. She followed the shouting to the living room, and found her parents fighting. Right as she walked in, Shintaro shouted, "YOU'RE LETTING THEM SLEEP TOGETHER!?"

"Yes," Sakura said calmly. "Don't you trust Ichigo at all? She wouldn't go too far, and Kisshu wouldn't either- not that he can in his condition."

"How do we know that Ichigo won't make a mistake?" Shintaro asked.

Before Sakura could respond, Ichigo said, "Ichigo is right here, and she's very unhappy to hear that her own father doesn't trust her to do the right thing. She also came to tell you that we can hear you upstairs, so STOP SHOUTING!" She glared at Shintaro, and Sakura did the same.

Shintaro sighed. "Why do you both have to agree on everything?" he asked.

"Because your overprotectiveness gets on my nerves," Ichigo said. "Mom is the only one besides Kisshu who really understands me. You don't even try to understand me, Dad. You're stuck on the idea that I'm a baby, and for some reason, you aren't letting go of that view. I'm grown up, and there's really not much you can do about that. I also have a mind of my own."

Shintaro looked shocked, but also angry. Sakura noticed, and said, "Shintaro, if you don't stop, you're going to be sleeping in the garage tonight. Ichigo's right; you treat her like a baby, and never stop to consider that she might hate that."

Shintaro started sputtering, then said, "I'm going out for a walk." He stormed out.

Sakura sighed, and said, "Is Kisshu okay?"

"Not really, but if you mean is he any worse, than no," Ichigo said. "I'm going back to him, I left Pai up there."

"I'll come too," Sakura said. She followed Ichigo up to her room, and went in after her. Pai looked at them, and said, "Everything okay?"

"Not really, but I'm sure Shintaro will come around eventually," Sakura said. "He's disgruntled about the sleeping together thing."

Kisshu looked worried. "Is he going to make Ichigo stop sleeping with me?" he asked.

"No, you two can sleep together," Sakura said. "Don't worry about it."

"Okay…" Kisshu whispered. "I'm tired again."

"Go back to sleep," Ichigo said. "I'll be right here, k?"

"K…" Kisshu said, as he fell back to sleep.

**I know it's a bit short, but I have to update other things now….**


	10. Sad News

**Depression Chapter 10:**

**Sad News**

Kisshu slept through the rest of the day, and woke up around dinnertime. Sakura had made miso soup, and Ichigo helped Kisshu drink some.

To their surprise, Shintaro still wasn't home. Finally, around 8 that night, Sakura called his friend Micheru, which was where Shintaro went when he wanted to get away. Micheru hadn't seen him, though. Sakura thanked him, and hung up. She turned to Ichigo and Pai, who were watching her. "I'm getting worried," she admitted. "Normally he would come back after he cooled down."

"Have you tried the hospital?" Pai asked. "If something happened, they might be involved."

"Normally they'd call here," Sakura said.

"If Shintaro was unconscious, they may not know how to contact you," Pai said.

Ichigo looked scared. "I'll go call," Sakura said. She took the phone to another room, leaving Ichigo and Pai alone.

Ichigo was scared, and Pai picked up on that. "Ichigo, try to stay calm," he said. "If not for your own sake, then at least for Kisshu's. He'll panic if you do, and if he does, that could cause his condition to take a turn for the worse. And I'm sure if something happened, it's not too serious. For all we know, he went to a different friend's house, and that's why Micheru hasn't seen him."

Before Ichigo could reply, Sakura came back in, looking grim. "What happened, Mom?" Ichigo asked.

"You were right, Pai," Sakura said. "He's in the hospital, and they don't exactly know what happened, because he's still unconscious. Ichigo, I feel like we should go. Can you leave Kisshu with Pai for a while?"

Ichigo was torn. On the one hand, Kisshu could get worse without her around; on the other, her dad was in the hospital, and she had a feeling it was her fault. She looked at Pai, who seemed to guess what she was thinking. "Go, Ichigo," Pai said. "If worse comes to worst, I'll put Kisshu to sleep. I'll keep him calm, so go ahead."

"Thanks, Pai," Ichigo said, and went to get her shoes. Sakura met her at the door, and they got in the car. Then Sakura drove to the hospital.

When they got to the front desk, the receptionist said, "Are you Momomiya Sakura?"

"Hai," Sakura said. "This is my daughter Ichigo. Can we see Shintaro?"

"He's in the ER, but you can go to the waiting room," the receptionist said. "It's down the hall."

"Thank you," Sakura said, and led Ichigo down the hall. They entered the waiting room, which was deserted, and sat down together.

"This is my fault, isn't it?" Ichigo asked sadly.

"No, sweetie, it's not," Sakura said firmly. "Your dad can make his own choices, and it's not your fault he's refusing to understand you. You didn't force him to take a walk, that was his choice. And we don't know exactly what happened anyways, so until we do, don't think things like that."

Suddenly the door opened, and a woman came out. "Are you Momomiya Sakura and Momomiya Ichigo?" she asked.

"Yes," Sakura said.

The woman sighed, and said, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it doesn't look like Mr. Momomiya has a lot of time left. He had a lot of internal bleeding to begin with; we're guessing he was hit by a car or something. Do you want to see him?"

"Hai," Sakura said shakily. She took Ichigo's hand, and walked into the room. Shintaro was lying on the bed in the middle of the room, his breathing shallow. Sakura and Ichigo walked over, sitting in the chairs next to the bed. To their surprise, Shintaro opened his eyes and said weakly, "I'm sorry, Ichigo. I should have listened to you and your mother sooner. Maybe then I wouldn't have to leave you so soon."

Ichigo was crying as she said, "I'm sorry too, Daddy. I love you…" she was now crying so hard she couldn't speak.

"I love you too, sweetheart," Shintaro said. "Sakura… take care of her, and yourself. I love you…" Then he closed his eyes, and a minute later, he was gone.

Ichigo and her mother were sobbing now. The woman from before came back in, and said, "He's gone, then?"

Sakura took a deep breath, and said, "Yes…"

"I am so sorry we couldn't save him," the woman said. "Do you need a ride home, or do you want to stay here?"

"Ichigo?" Sakura asked.

"I think I'll go home," Ichigo said shakily. "What about you?"

"I kind of want to stay here," Sakura said. "Can you call Pai to come get you?"

"Is that a good idea?" Ichigo asked.

"Right now, it's all we've got," Sakura said.

"Alright," Ichigo said, and got out her cell phone. She dialed Pai's number, and when he picked up, said, "Pai, you can teleport to where I am, right?"

"_Yep, I'll be there soon," _Pai said. He hung up, and five minutes later, teleported into the room. "It was too late?" he asked gently.

"Well, he woke up long enough to say goodbye," Sakura said sadly. "I'm staying here tonight, please take care of Ichigo for me."

"Of course," Pai said. Then he took Ichigo's hand, and teleported.

They landed in the living room, and Ichigo looked startled, because Taruto and Keiichiro were there too. Noticing she looked startled, Keiichiro said, "We're here to help. Pai called and told me that your father died, and then told me to get Taruto and come here, the main reason being so I can cook for you guys for a while. We and the other Mews are going to get you and your mother through this, Ichigo."

"Thanks…" Ichigo said sadly. "How's Kisshu?"

"He's sleeping," Pai said. "I put him to sleep before I left to get you. He should be good for another two hours, so we can let him be."

"Okay," Ichigo said. "Mom's still at the hospital."

"Pai mentioned she'd be staying the night," Keiichiro said. "Do you want something to eat?"

"Not really," Ichigo said sadly. "I think I'll just go to bed…"

"That might be a good idea, maybe snuggling with Kisshu will help," Pai said. "Go to bed, we'll be here. Keiichiro's going to do a little cooking and leave, but he'll be back tomorrow."

"Thanks…" Ichigo said, and headed upstairs. Kisshu was asleep, so she was quiet getting her stuff together. She got her pajamas on in the bathroom, and then went back to her room. Kisshu was starting to wake up, and when he saw her, he whispered, "What happened, Ichigo?"

"My dad died an hour ago," Ichigo said sadly. "I'm just coming to snuggle with you, is that okay?"

"Of course," Kisshu whispered. Ichigo climbed under the covers and snuggled up to Kisshu, who put an arm over her. She did the same, and they both fell asleep.

Ichigo woke up with her arms locked around Kisshu the next morning. She was feeling sadder than ever, and decided to just lie there until she felt like getting up.

This turned out to be around noon, and she sighed, then noticed Kisshu was waking up too. "Kisshu?" she asked softly.

"Are you any better?" Kisshu asked. This time he didn't whisper.

"Not really, but it seems like you're starting to get better," Ichigo said. "You can talk above a whisper now."

"Yeah," Kisshu said. "I'm sorry about your dad, Ichigo."

"Thanks, Kishy," Ichigo said- and then covered her mouth with a squeak, her cheeks turning red.

Kisshu looked at her, a bit startled, then smoothed her hair and said, "I like my nickname, Koneko-chan."

"Th-thanks…" Ichigo said. "You don't mind?"

"I like that you gave me a nickname," Kisshu said.

Ichigo smiled slightly. Then she took her arms away from Kisshu, and said, "I guess I'll get up, my mom should be back soon."

"Okay," Kisshu said. "I don't think I can sit up yet, though."

"That's okay, if Mom wants to talk to you, she can come here," Ichigo said. She got out of bed, and gathered up some clothes. She took a quick shower, put her clothes on and did her hair, and went back to Kisshu. "I'm going downstairs," she told him. "I'll be back soon, k?"

"K…" Kisshu said. Ichigo smiled at him and went downstairs. Sakura was in the living room, with Pai and Taruto. They looked up as Ichigo came in. "Are you feeling any better?" Pai asked.

"Snuggling with Kisshu helped a little," Ichigo said. Turning to Sakura, she said, "Mom, how are you doing?"

"I guess I'll live," Sakura said sadly. "Oh, and Pai, Kisshu and Taruto will be living here from now on. Pai's idea."

"That's good, it'd be pretty lonely otherwise," Ichigo said sadly. "At least we'll have company."

"Yeah…" Sakura said sadly.

The doorbell rang, and Pai said, "I've got a pretty good idea of who's at the door, I'll get it." He got up and went to the door, coming back a minute later with Keiichiro.

"You're Keiichiro, right?" Sakura asked.

"Hai, Pai neglected to mention that he enlisted my help too?" Keiichiro said. "I'm truly sorry for your loss, Mrs. Momomiya."

"Thanks," Sakura said softly. "So what did Pai need your help with?"

"He suggested that I do the cooking for a while, so you can be with Ichigo more," Keiichiro said. "And since Pai can't cook, he suggested that I come and help out while you're getting through this hard time."

Sakura looked startled. "You don't mind?" she asked.

"No, and according to Taruto, letting Pai in your kitchen is a recipe for total catastrophe," Keiichiro said. "I'm happy to do the cooking for a while. Since Café Mew Mew closed, I've been looking for an outlet anyways. I love cooking and baking."

"Thank you," Sakura said. "I'd probably burn everything anyways…"

While Keiichiro was talking with Sakura, Pai said to Ichigo, "How's Kisshu this morning?"

"He can talk above a whisper, but he still can't sit up," Ichigo said. "I think it'll be a while before he's back on his feet."

"That's to be expected, he did stop breathing for nearly four minutes," Pai said. "Why don't you go back to him, I'll bring you guys breakfast when it's ready."

"Thanks Pai," Ichigo said, and headed back to Kisshu.

**I think that's the saddest thing I ever wrote. If I made you cry, I hope you won't flame me for it. Plz review, and tell me what you think.**


	11. Sorrow

**Depression Chapter 11:**

**Sorrow**

The next few days were pretty hard for Ichigo and Sakura. Pai and Taruto had moved in, and Keiichiro came by every day to cook for them all. Ichigo spent almost all of her time with Kisshu, and the rest of the time with her mother.

The funeral was going to be held when Kisshu was better. He could sit up now, but not stand up. This was partly due to the fact that he wasn't always getting enough rest, since he wanted to comfort Ichigo.

Sakura had taken to coming in and sitting with them, because that was where Ichigo was. Both she and Ichigo had been crying a lot lately, and Kisshu, Pai and Taruto spent all their time calming them down and hugging them. Lettuce, Zakuro and Pudding had come by a lot too. Ever since Aoyuck's 'disappearance', Mint refused to involve herself with Ichigo. Ichigo was fine with that; she saw Mint's going out with Aoyuck as a betrayal of trust.

Sakura was also busy with funeral preparations, and Keiichiro was helping. They were doing the catering together as well. Sakura had called up Shintaro's family and close friends, and they were handling getting a place for the funeral.

A few people had offered to speak at the funeral. Shintaro's father, Sakura, and Shintaro's friend Micheru were all speaking. Ichigo had opted out, knowing she'd be too choked up to speak well. However, both she and Sakura were shocked when Kisshu said he'd speak. Sakura had agreed, but Pai had taken Kisshu aside and lectured him for about an hour on proper funeral behavior- at least until Kisshu said, "Have you forgotten that I spoke at my parents' funeral when I was six? I know what to do. So quit lecturing me, Pai!" Pai gave it up after that.

A week later, Kisshu was back on his feet, and they were all getting ready for the funeral. Ichigo and her mother both put on black kimonos, and Pai, Taruto and Kisshu all put on black suits that Keiichiro had found for them. Keiichiro was driving them there, and he was also wearing a black suit. Kisshu, Pai and Taruto had all taken the pills that changed their ears for ten hours, and were ready.

They arrived at the building Shintaro's family had rented, and were immediately swarmed by his relatives. Ichigo was staying close to Kisshu; she didn't really enjoy her cousins. After greetings and condolences were over, they all went into the building, and sat down together. There were quite a few people there, and as soon as everyone was settled, a priest came to the front of the room.

"I'd like to take this moment to say how very sorry I am to hear that Shintaro died," the man said. "He was a good man, and a good friend to everyone who knew him, myself included. There are a few people who have offered to speak today, and I would first like to invite Momomiya Kidoru to come up."

An older man, Shintaro's father, came up to the front of the room as the priest stood back. "To all of you who knew my son, I want to say that I'm sure that as I am, you all are very saddened by his untimely death," Kidoru said. "He was always a good person, and very kind to others, unless he felt they threatened someone he was close to. I was proud to have him as my son, and I'm sure that all of you here were proud to have known him. To all of you; and especially to Sakura and Ichigo, my daughter-in-law and granddaughter, I want to say that I'm sorry for your loss, as I am sorry for my own loss. Thank you."

As he went back to his seat, the priest came to the front of the room and said, "I would like Momomiya Sakura to come up here, as she has offered to speak in honor of her late husband."

Sakura got up, and came to the front of the room. "I know that you're all probably as sad as I am about the death of my husband," she said. "He was a good man, a good husband, and a good father. I know he wanted the best for both me and Ichigo, and that he would want us to live on, despite his death. I know that he would want the best for all of you who came today, as well. And I also know he'd be laughing at me for what I'm about to say now. I invited my daughter's boyfriend to his funeral, and he has asked to speak in honor of my husband as well, despite the fact that we both know Shintaro was none too keen on his daughter even having a boyfriend. Even though Shintaro scared Kisshu on a regular basis, he still asked to speak today, and I think that's very kind. With that in mind, I would like to ask Ikisatashi Kisshu to come up here and speak."

Kisshu squeezed Ichigo's hand, then stood and walked up to the front of the room, patting Sakura's shoulder on his way. When he reached the front of the room and faced everyone, Kisshu said, "I know that I didn't know Shintaro as well as the rest of you here, and I also know that he didn't like me very much. But I do know that just from seeing how well he raised Ichigo, and how kind he was to both her and Sakura, that he was a good man. I also realize that while he probably didn't like me, it was only because he was worried about Ichigo, and I can respect that. I'm truly sorry for the loss of a good man, despite the fact that if he could have, he probably would have challenged me to a fight or something to make sure I was suitable for his daughter. I know he was caring, and that he only wanted the best for Ichigo. That's why I'm speaking today, because I know that even if he didn't like me, he had his reasons, reasons that I respect. I respected him as well, despite the fact he actually scared me. And I know that if he's looking down on this right now, he's probably laughing his head off that I'd come up here and speak in honor of him. I give you all my sincere condolences on the loss of Momomiya Shintaro. Thank you." Kisshu bowed slightly, and went back to sit with Ichigo, seemingly not noticing he had everyone in tears. He did notice, however, when he sat back down, and Pai was looking at him. "You're actually showing emotion, Pai?" he asked softly as the priest called Shintaro's friend Micheru up to speak as well.

"What did you expect?" Ichigo asked. "Everyone was in tears by the time you were done. You're amazing, Kishy."

"Thanks, Koneko-chan," Kisshu said softly, hugging her as they listened to Micheru's speech.

When Micheru was done, the priest came back to the front of the room, and said, "Let us have a moment of silence, in honor of Momomiya Shintaro."

Everyone was silent until the priest said, "Thank you all for being here today. And now, there is food next door, so you all may go partake of that. My sincere condolences to all of you."

Everyone stood and started to file out. Sakura came up to Ichigo and Kisshu, who were holding hands, and said, "Kisshu, that was absolutely beautiful. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Kisshu said. "And I know he was a good guy, even though he didn't like me."

Sakura smiled. They noticed Shintaro's father and a few others coming their way, and when they came over, Kidoru said, "Kisshu, that was amazing, thank you. You really have a talent there."

Kisshu blushed slightly and said, "Thanks, Mr. Momomiya."

Kidoru smiled and said, "Call me Ojiisan, like Ichigo does." He held his hand out, and Kisshu shook it. Kidoru turned to Sakura and said, "The other boys sitting with you, and the guy with the brown ponytail, who were they?"

"The boys are Kisshu's brothers; Pai's the older one and Taruto's the younger one," Sakura said. "And the other guy is Keiichiro, Ichigo's former boss. He did most of the catering, and he's been cooking for us since Shintaro died. He and Pai are friends, and Pai was kind enough to enlist his help with all this."

"Good," Kidoru said. "So Ichigo, you've convinced your mother to let your boyfriend live with you?"

"Actually, this was all Pai's idea," Ichigo said. "He knew we'd get lonely, so he suggested that Mom adopt him, Kisshu and Taruto, since they have no parents. And Mom decided it was for the best."

"Sakura, are you in need of financial help?" Kidoru asked.

"I actually have a surprise," Sakura said. "Keiichiro wants to reopen Café Mew Mew, and I would be his assistant. Ichigo, a few of her friends, Pai, Kisshu and Taruto would be working as servers, and since the Café is so popular, I don't think it'll be an issue."

"Alright, but let me know if you need help," Kidoru said.

"Thank you, I appreciate that," Sakura said. "Should we get some food before the others eat it all?"

"Good idea," Ichigo said with a smile.

They all headed over to the buffet, and started filling plates.

**Yes, it's short. I KNOW that. But I like it, so I hope you do too!**


	12. Mint's Revenge

**Depression Chapter 12:**

**Mint's Revenge**

With the funeral behind them, Sakura and Ichigo were starting to feel a bit better. Having Kisshu, Pai and Taruto live with them was a big help. It would have been pretty lonely otherwise.

Right now they were all busy helping Sakura and Keiichiro work on reopening Café Mew Mew. Lettuce, Pudding and Zakuro had all agreed to come back, but Mint was refusing to talk to them. Ichigo didn't really mind; Mint hadn't done anything anyways, and she pointed that out to the others.

Keiichiro sighed. "You're right, she never pulled her weight," he said. "And now that you've killed Aoyama, she wouldn't come near you. It would probably be a nuisance to have her fighting with you all the time and just sitting there while everyone else works."

"Then let's not bother inviting her back," Ichigo said. "We've got Kisshu, Pai and Taruto now, we don't really need an extra person."

"You didn't call me Kishy…" Kisshu said, pretending to be sad.

Ichigo didn't notice the pretend part, and said, "I'm sorry, Kishy."

Kisshu smiled. "I don't mind," he said. "You can call me Kisshu or Kishy. Or both."

Ichigo smiled back, then said, "Keiichiro, do the uniforms have to have those short skirts? I thought they were cute at first, but guys started flipping my skirt, and if that happens again, Kishy's going to scare the customers away."

"Good point," Keiichiro said. "I'll see what I can do about new uniforms. In the meantime, why don't you all start cleaning up around here?"

Everyone nodded, and they spent the rest of the day airing out the café part and cleaning. As they were finishing, there was a knock on the door, and everyone looked at each other. "The Café's not open, who could that be?" Lettuce wondered.

Ichigo sighed and went to the door. "I'm sorry, we're not open," she said to the two men outside. "We're having our grand opening next Wednesday, you can come back then."

"We're not here to eat treats, Miss Momomiya," one of the guys said.

"How do you know my name?" Ichigo asked nervously. "Who are you?"

The man took out an ID card and showed it to her, saying, "We're members of the special guard of the Aizawa family. We're here to ask you and your friends some questions."

Keiichiro came up behind Ichigo, and said, "Do you have authorization to ask us questions? I was under the impression you needed a warrant to come here and ask questions, especially if you're from a private police force."

"We have a warrant," the second man said, holding out a piece of paper. Keiichiro took it and looked it over, then sighed.

"Fine, come in," he said.

The two men walked in and everyone sat down at the tables. "We were asked to do this by our master's daughter, Aizawa Mint," the first man said. "I am Agent Oniro, and my partner is Agent Menai."

"And why did Miss Aizawa ask you to do this?" Keiichiro asked.

"She claims that one of your employees killed her boyfriend," Agent Menai said. "Momomiya Ichigo, to be precise."

"How on Earth did Mint get a boyfriend?" Ichigo asked. "I didn't even know she had one."

"So you deny the accusations?" Agent Oniro asked.

"Yes," Ichigo said. "I didn't think Mint had a boyfriend. She's so stuck-up I assumed she'd never get anyone. Besides, why would I kill her boyfriend, even if I had known she had one?"

"She claimed you were jealous of her, and that you couldn't take it that she was better than you," Agent Oniro said.

"Why would she think that?" Ichigo asked. "I wasn't jealous of her; I thought it was rather sad that she thought she was so much better than everyone around her. It must make it hard to make friends."

"She does have a lot of trouble making friends…" Agent Menai said- and got whacked over the head by Agent Oniro.

"So, who was Mint's boyfriend?" Keiichiro asked.

"Aoyama Masaya," Agent Oniro said.

"We heard he went missing," Ichigo said. "You think he was killed?"

"We can't figure out any other explanation, and neither can the regular police," Agent Menai said. "His parents didn't receive any demands for a ransom, so we think he was murdered, not kidnapped."

"I honestly don't know why you'd think I did it," Ichigo said. "Are you positive Mint wasn't just going crazy because she lost an important person to her?"

"Uh… she has been a little off recently, but we had to follow orders," Agent Menai said. "I guess this was a waste of our time. We'll go back and tell her father that the investigation's come to another dead end."

"I think that's for the best," Keiichiro said firmly. The two agents both stood, bowed, and left.

Everyone sighed when they were out of sight around a corner, then Kisshu said, "Good acting, Koneko-chan."

"Thanks Kishy," Ichigo said.

"We may not have seen the last of Mint, though," Zakuro said. "We'll have to be careful- especially you and Kisshu, Ichigo."

"Yep," Ichigo said. "At least the excuse that Mint's probably gone insane from losing Aoyuck will keep for a while."

"Yeah…." the others said.

Finally Keiichiro said, "Well, it's getting to be dinnertime, so you all should get home to your families. I'll get to work on getting new uniforms, and we'll have the grand opening next Wednesday. Till then, you can have free time."

"Great!" Ichigo said.

Everyone else started to leave, and Pai and Kisshu teleported Sakura and Ichigo home. Taruto was having a sleepover at Pudding's.

When they landed in the living room, Sakura said, "Who wants noodle salad?"

"NOT me," Kisshu said. "I spent a week and a half eating nothing but noodles while I was recovering before the funeral, I don't want to see noodles for a very long time."

"Should we order pizza?" Sakura asked.

"What's pizza?" Kisshu asked. "It doesn't involve noodles, does it?"

"No, it's a big flatbread with tomato sauce, cheese, and other toppings, like meat and vegetables," Sakura said. "Ichigo likes pepperoni and mushrooms."

"Okay," Kisshu said. "That sounds pretty good."

"Pai, is that okay?" Sakura asked.

"I'll eat just about anything," Pai said. "I'm not picky."

"Yay, pizza!" Ichigo said.

Sakura smiled and went to get the phone. "Kishy, let's go back to my room," Ichigo said. "The pizza usually takes about half an hour to get here."

"How does food get here on its own?" Kisshu asked.

"Someone delivers it," Ichigo said.

"Oh," Kisshu said. "Let's go to your room now."

"K," Ichigo said. They headed upstairs, and went to Ichigo's room, then sat on the bed. "Hey, why is the window open?" Ichigo asked.

"Did you open it and forget?" Kisshu asked.

"I don't think so," Ichigo said- just as they saw a shadowy figure in the tree. "Who's out there?" Kisshu called.

There was no response; instead, something came flying through the window and lodged itself into Ichigo's shoulder. Ichigo cried out as Kisshu ran to the window. Strangely, whoever was in the tree was gone. Kisshu ran back to Ichigo, and pulled what looked like a dart out of her shoulder. Then he noticed she was going pale, and soon after, she collapsed. "ICHIGO!" Kisshu shouted, which brought Pai and Sakura running.

"What happened?" Sakura asked, scared.

"Someone shot this at Ichigo and vanished!" Kisshu said, holding out the dart. "They were in that tree, but when I went to look closer, they were gone!"

Pai took the dart, and studied it. "This has poison on it," he said grimly.

Kisshu and Sakura looked at him in horror. "Can you do anything?" Sakura asked.

Pai put his hand on Ichigo's chest, and said, "The poison has only just begun to take effect. I can counteract it with my powers, but Ichigo will need to heal on her own after that, counteracting the poison isn't going to be easy."

"Alright," Kisshu said.

Pai nodded and closed his eyes, his hand still on Ichigo's chest. His hand began to glow, and continued to glow for the next ten minutes. Finally the glow flashed, and Pai took his hand away. "That should do it," he said tiredly. "She has to heal on her own now, and I need to rest, that was tough."

"Okay," Sakura said. "I guess I'll put the pizza in the fridge to eat another time, unless you want some now."

"Too tired…" Pai said.

"I'm going to stay with Ichigo," Kisshu said.

"Okay," Sakura said. She and Pai left as Kisshu tucked Ichigo into their bed, and sat down to wait for her to wake up.

Ichigo didn't wake up until midnight, by which point Kisshu was on the verge of panicking. He calmed down a little when he heard Ichigo ask, "Kishy?"

"I'm here," Kisshu said. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't feel that great," Ichigo said. "What happened?"

"Someone shot a poison dart into the room and it hit you in the shoulder," Kisshu said. "I'm sorry I didn't push you out of the way."

"Well, then you'd be poisoned," Ichigo said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" Kisshu said. "Pai said he counteracted the poison, but that you'd have to heal on your own while he gets his strength back."

"Okay…" Ichigo said sleepily. "Can you sleep with me?"

"Sure," Kisshu said with a smile. He climbed into the bed next to her, and she snuggled up to him. He gently hugged her, and they fell asleep soon after.

**Well, Mint's out for revenge. Luckily Ichigo got the police off her trail, but now she's been poisoned. And I'm sure you all know who was in the tree. I'll work on this more soon! Review!**


	13. Clingy

**Depression Chapter 13:**

**Clingy**

The next day, Ichigo wasn't much better. And Pai was still exhausted from counteracting the poison. Kisshu stayed with Ichigo, even though she slept through most of the day. That night, though, things got worse. Ichigo developed a fever, and though Sakura gave her medicine, and put a cold cloth on her forehead, her fever wouldn't go down.

With Pai too exhausted to heal her, Sakura and Kisshu were both worried- or in Kisshu's case, on the verge of panicking.

Finally Kisshu said, "I'll go ask Pai if a power transfer would be enough to help him recover faster." He got up, and went to Pai's room. Pai was still asleep, but Kisshu shook him awake, and said, "Pai, if I give you a power transfer, can you heal Ichigo? She's got a fever that won't go down."

"We can try," Pai said. Kisshu took his hand and poured his power into Pai. Five minutes later, Pai said, "That should be good, thanks Kisshu."

"Welcome," Kisshu said. "Can you help Ichigo now?"

"I'll try," Pai said. He went to Ichigo's room, and went over to the bed. He put a hand on Ichigo's forehead, and his eyes widened. Then he put his other hand on her chest, and began to glow. The color in Ichigo's cheeks started to lessen, and her breathing got easier. Ten minutes later, Pai put both hands over Ichigo's heart, then sighed. "She should be fine when she wakes up, but tell me, and I'll come look," he said.

"Okay, thanks Pai," Sakura said. She stood up, and was about to leave Kisshu and Ichigo alone, but noticed Kisshu was looking exhausted. "Kisshu, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I gave Pai basically all my energy in order for him to heal Ichigo," Kisshu said. "I'll be fine if I get some rest, but I can't stay up with Ichigo tonight. Can you manage that?"

"I'll do it," Pai said. "Sakura, you go to bed, I'll watch them both."

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked.

"Yep," Pai said. He looked at Kisshu, then said, "Kisshu, go to bed, you look like you're about to collapse."

Kisshu sleepily climbed in with Ichigo, and was asleep instantly. Pai sat down in the chair next to the bed, and Sakura left to get some sleep.

The next morning, Ichigo woke up feeling fine, and sat up. She squeaked when Pai asked, "Feeling better?"

"Yeah, thanks," Ichigo said.

"We should keep it quiet, Kisshu's resting," Pai said softly. "He gave me almost everything he had to heal you."

"Okay," Ichigo said. She started to ease gently out of the bed, but stopped when Kisshu made a small, sad sound in his sleep. She sighed, and instead of getting up, started stroking his hair. He sighed happily and leaned into her hand.

"How does he know that you're leaving when he's sleeping?" Pai asked.

"Beats me," Ichigo said. "Sometimes it's like he needs me there to sleep. He can get pretty clingy."

"I hope he's not getting depressed again," Pai said worriedly.

"I think we'll find out soon," Ichigo said. Kisshu was stirring. "Kishy?" Ichigo asked softly.

"Koneko-chan? Are you okay?" Kisshu asked.

"I feel fine, thanks," Ichigo said. "What about you?"

"I'm okay," Kisshu said. He sat up, and looked startled to see Pai. "Pai? What's up?" he asked.

"I stayed with you overnight to make sure you were both okay," Pai said. "I've been noticing something, though."

"What is it? You sound worried," Kisshu said.

"While you're sleeping, you seem to notice whether Ichigo's there or not," Pai said. "And when she's not there, you seem to have trouble sleeping. Do you know why that is? You didn't used to be that clingy."

"I don't know," Kisshu said. "I didn't need to be comforted to be able to sleep before-" he broke off, his eyes widening.

"What is it?" Ichigo asked, worried.

"The last time you rejected me, when I went into depression and couldn't stop crying," Kisshu said. "What if that had something to do with it? And you slept with me that first night after you calmed me down; what if my subconscious somehow needs that comforting feeling now?"

"You're saying the feeling that first time Ichigo slept with you may have been implanted into your subconscious, and now you need it?" Pai asked.

"Yeah," Kisshu said. "Is there a way to find out?"

"I need to put you to sleep, and it'll be a deeper sleep than usual," Pai said. "It's going to take a while for you to wake up afterwards, but I can try to find out if you're correct."

"How long is 'a while'?" Kisshu asked.

"I'm not sure, but it won't be any more than two days, and it probably won't be less than about twenty hours," Pai said. "Unfortunately, that's the only way."

Kisshu sighed and looked at Ichigo, who nodded. "Oh, and during the time you're asleep, Ichigo can't sleep with you," Pai said.

"I'll go dig out my sleeping bag then," Ichigo said. She got up as Kisshu sighed and said, "Do it, Pai."

Pai nodded and put his hand on Kisshu's forehead, and after a minute, snapped his fingers. Kisshu's breathing slowed and evened out as his eyes closed. Pai sighed and said, "Ichigo, you can stay, but tell your mom not to distract me, as it could hurt Kisshu."

"On my way," Ichigo said, and went downstairs. Sakura was in the kitchen, making breakfast, when Ichigo came in.

"What's up?" Sakura asked.

"We noticed that Kisshu's become unusually clingy to me, and Pai says there's a way to find out why," Ichigo said. "But he says not to distract him, or it could hurt Kisshu."

"Alright, let me know when he's done," Sakura said.

"Sure," Ichigo said. "He also informed us that Kisshu's probably going to be asleep for at least twenty hours after this, if not more."

"Alright," Sakura said. "I won't disturb Pai."

"Thanks," Ichigo said, and went back upstairs, quietly entering her room and sitting down to watch Pai, who was deep in concentration.

Twenty minutes later, Ichigo was bored, and decided to leave. Before she could, though, Pai stopped concentrating, and said, "Done."

"Did you find out what's wrong?" Ichigo asked.

"Kisshu was right," Pai said. "The clinginess was caused by going into such an extreme state of depression. And his mind is clinging to the first happy thing he remembers after calming down- which is you sleeping with him. I don't think there's a way to fix this, though. Luckily, it's only related to sleeping, so while he's awake, he won't be any clingier than is normal for him. But when he's asleep, he's going to need you nearby- especially when he's sick. For some reason, he's able to sense the difference between you and someone else even in his sleep. I hope you don't mind sleeping with him."

"I love sleeping with him," Ichigo said. "But if he gets sick, I don't want to get sick by sleeping with him. What about then?"

"I'll try to figure something out," Pai said. "He doesn't usually get sick, though."

"Okay," Ichigo said. "So now we wait for him to wake up, right?"

"Yep," Pai said. "And we don't have to stay, he's so deep in sleep that he won't notice if you leave."

"Okay," Ichigo said. "I'm hungry, I'm going to get something to eat."

"I think I'll do the same," Pai said. He followed Ichigo downstairs, and found Sakura still in the kitchen.

"Mom, what are you making?" Ichigo asked.

"I'm practicing making food look pretty," Sakura said. "Keiichiro's idea. There's some breakfast pastries over on the counter if you want them. They're not very pretty, but I think they taste good."

"Everything you make tastes good," Pai said.

Sakura smiled. "Thanks, Pai," she said. "How's Kisshu?"

"He's sleeping," Pai said. "I don't think he'll wake up till tomorrow morning at the earliest. And I discovered that he was right; the clinginess to Ichigo was caused by her sleeping with him right after the first time he got depressed. That's the first happy thing he remembers, and his mind is clinging to it. He'll only be clingy in his sleep, though. While he's awake, he'll be acting more normal."

"Is there a way to fix that?" Sakura asked.

"Not that I can think of," Pai said. "I hope you don't mind that Ichigo will probably have to sleep with Kisshu all the time from now on, or he won't be able to sleep. I guess it's possible he'll grow out of it someday, though."

Sakura sighed. "As long as Ichigo's fine with it, so am I," she said.

"I love sleeping with Kishy," Ichigo said.

"Did you know that he's ecstatic that you gave him a nickname?" Pai asked.

"No, but I knew he liked it," Ichigo said. "I'm glad I can make him happy."

**Interesting. I know it's filler, but I think Mint will most likely be going down soon, so stay tuned and REVIEW! **


	14. Cafe Mew Mew Disaster

**Depression Chapter 14:**

**Café Mew Mew Disaster**

Ichigo slept on the floor that night, and woke up the next morning to check on Kisshu. He was still sleeping, so she went to take a shower. When she came back, Pai was standing over Kisshu, a hand on his forehead. "Is he okay?" Ichigo asked.

"He's fine, and he should be awake in about two hours," Pai said. "Can you stay? I think he'll want you here when he wakes up."

"Sure," Ichigo said. She sat down in her desk chair as Pai left, and picked up a book.

_**Two hours later: **_Ichigo was still reading when she heard a soft noise from the bed. She looked up, and saw that Kisshu was stirring. She came over and sat next to him, and he opened his eyes. "Koneko-chan?" he asked.

"I'm here," Ichigo said. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Kisshu said, sitting up. "How long was I asleep?"

Ichigo looked at the clock, and said, "It's been 24 hours. Do you want to get breakfast?"

"Sure," Kisshu said. "I'm starving."

Ichigo smiled, and Kisshu got up, following her to the kitchen. Pai and Sakura were in there, and they looked up. "Kisshu, you're awake!" Sakura said. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I'm starving," Kisshu said.

"There's some pastries on the counter," Sakura said. "Help yourselves."

"Thanks, Mom," Ichigo said, and took an apple turnover. Kisshu took one too, and they sat down with their food.

"The grand opening is two days from now, are you two ready?" Pai asked.

"Do we have uniforms?" Ichigo asked.

"Yes, Keiichiro gave them to me while Kisshu was sleeping," Sakura said. "They're in the living room, you should go see if they fit."

Kisshu and Ichigo finished their turnovers, and went to the living room. There were two boxes on the sofa, one labeled 'Ichigo' and the other labeled 'Kisshu'. "Let's go try these on," Ichigo said. Kisshu nodded, and Ichigo went to the bathroom while Kisshu changed in her room.

A while later, the both came out. "Mine fits," Ichigo said.

"Same here," Kisshu said. "Let's go show Sakura."

They went downstairs, and as they entered the kitchen, Sakura looked up. "You two look great!" she said, coming over.

Ichigo was wearing a red dress with an almost knee-length skirt, and a frilly white apron that tied in the back with a large pink ribbon. The dress had three-quarter length sleeves with frills of white lace on the cuffs, and a scoop neck with a white frill around it, and a pink bow right in the middle. She was wearing white knee socks and a pair of red Mary-Janes. (A/N: those shoes that look like flats, except with a strap over the foot.) She also had a little frilly headband.

Kisshu was wearing a pair of black slacks, a white button down shirt with a green bowtie, and a dark green vest. He also had a pair of black dress shoes. He was fiddling with the bowtie, and said, "I don't like this thing…"

"You look great, though," Ichigo said.

Kisshu blushed. "You look great too," he said. "I hope I don't have to scare too many boys away from you."

"You'll be too busy avoiding all the girls who come in," Ichigo said teasingly. "If even I think you're hot, everyone else is going to agree."

"Great…" Kisshu said. "I guess I'll have to make it clear I'm not interested."

"Still be polite," Ichigo said. "And try not to get too irritated."

"I'll manage," Kisshu said.

_**Two days later: **_It was the day that Café Mew Mew was reopening, and Ichigo, the other Mews (except for Mint), the Cyniclons, Keiichiro and Sakura were waiting. Keiichiro and Sakura had been baking for days, getting ready for the opening.

At about noon, the preparations were done, and the Café was ready to open. Keiichiro opened the doors, and they noticed there were quite a few people waiting outside. There had been an article in the paper that announced the reopening, so everyone knew about it.

Keiichiro stepped forward, and said, "Thank you all for coming to our reopening. There have been a few changes since this Café was last open, so I'd like to tell you a bit about it. The previous owner, Shirogane Ryou, has disappeared, and I've taken over as owner of Café Mew Mew. I have a new assistant, and I'd like you to meet Momomiya Sakura. She is now the assistant chef here."

Sakura bowed slightly, and some people clapped. Keiichiro waited a minute, then said, "Due to some complaints before the reopening, I also need to tell all of you that anyone harassing our servers is going to be asked to leave. They work hard to make you happy, I think you'll agree that they deserve respect. And with that said, please come in, and I hope you enjoy your food."

Everyone clapped as Keiichiro and Sakura headed back to the kitchen, and then started to come in. The Mews and Cyniclons were kept busy seating people and handing out menus, and soon after, taking orders and bringing them out.

Everyone was kept busy until about six, and then the rush of people slowed down. After closing, Ichigo and the others sat down at different tables. "I think I like having you here," Ichigo told Kisshu, Pai and Taruto. "I don't end up doing everything."

Kisshu smiled. "Glad we can help," he said.

"Some old lady pinched my cheek and told me I was 'cute'," Taruto grumbled.

"Old ladies have a tendency to do that," Ichigo said. "Pudding, don't you get that sometimes?"

"Yep na no da," Pudding said. "Pudding puts up with it, so Taru-Taru can too, na no da!"

Taruto sighed, as Keiichiro and Sakura came out of the kitchen. "Good work today," Keiichiro said. "It looks like we'll be as busy as ever. For now, you can go home, and we'll expect you back at 11:30 tomorrow morning."

"Okay," the others said. Everyone started heading out, and Pai and Kisshu teleported Sakura and Ichigo home, followed by Taruto.

The next morning, they all got up ready for another day at the Café. Little did they know, this one was going to be quite different.

It started out normally, but everyone was startled when the doors burst open, revealing Mint in Mew form. She looked really angry, and the customers got scared. "You're going to pay for killing Aoyama-kun!" she screamed at Ichigo.

"You're insane," Ichigo said. "I don't even know you, why would you think I killed Aoyama?"

Keiichiro poked his head out of the kitchen, saw what was going on, and called out, "I'm asking all the customers to leave, it's not safe in here!"

For once everyone was happy to obey, and they ran out the back exit, Keiichiro and Sakura directing traffic. When they came back, Mint smirked. "Well, Ichigo, now you can feel my pain," she said, summoning her bow, and pointing it at Sakura. She loosed an energy arrow- but before it hit, Keiichiro pushed Sakura out of the way, and it hit him instead!

Pai ran over as he fell, and looked at the wound on his arm.

Meanwhile, the others noticed that Zakuro was radiating fury, and then she screamed her transformation. Fully transformed, she said coldly, "Mint. You're going DOWN!" Then she summoned her weapon, but to everyone's surprise, she had a sword rather than the energy whip. She immediately ran at Mint, slicing another arrow in half in the process. Still radiating fury, she kicked the bow out of Mint's hand, and said, "You've gone too far." Then she stabbed Mint through the heart, and threw her off the blade. Then she let the blade disappear, and walked back to the others, who were seriously freaked out.

"Um… what brought that on?" Kisshu asked.

"Keiichiro and I have been dating, and I don't like seeing people I care about hurt," Zakuro said. She detransformed, and looked over at Pai, who was just about finished healing the injury on Keiichiro's arm. She waited till he was done, then came over and said, "Will he be okay?"

"Yes, he just needs to sleep off the healing spell I put on him," Pai said. "Healing people tends to put them to sleep. You can stay with him, though."

"Thanks," Zakuro said softly. She and Pai carried Keiichiro back to his room, leaving the others downstairs.

"I didn't know they were dating," Ichigo said.

"Shouldn't we do something about Mint's body?" Lettuce asked.

"I'll destroy it," Kisshu said, and took out his swords. Then he went over to Mint, and formed an energy ball, then incinerated her body. He let his swords disappear, and walked back to the others. Ichigo went over to her mom, and asked, "Mom, are you okay?"

"I'm… fine…" Sakura said. "I'm sorry Keiichiro got hurt protecting me…"

Ichigo hugged her, and said, "Keiichiro knew what he was doing, and Pai said he'll be fine when he wakes up. Don't blame yourself. He knows that you have to stay alive, now that Dad's not here for me anymore."

"I'm surprised Mint didn't go for Kisshu," Lettuce said.

"She probably knew he could defend himself, and Mom can't," Ichigo said, as Kisshu came over and hugged Sakura too.

"Well, she's gone now, and that's what matters," Pai said, coming down the stairs.

"Yeah," the others said.

Kisshu and Ichigo let go of Sakura, and Kisshu said, "Should we go home?"

"Good idea," Sakura said.

Kisshu took her hand and Ichigo's, and teleported back to their house.

**I KNOW it's short, but I can't think of anything else for this chapter, and I'd appreciate some suggestions now that I've killed Mint off. I'll go update other things while waiting for suggestions, k?**


	15. Summer's End

**Depression Chapter 15:**

**Summer's End**

The staff of Café Mew Mew continued working through the rest of the summer. Despite the incident with Mint, the Café was as popular as ever, and they were all hard put to keep up with the orders.

They were closing for the first week of school, so everyone could adjust without also having to work at the Café, but after that, they'd be reopening.

Sakura had signed up Kisshu, Pai and Taruto each with their girlfriends, making sure they had all their classes together. The boys were a bit nervous about going to human schools, but understood that they didn't really have much choice. And at least they'd be with their girlfriends all day.

Finally the first day of school came, and Lettuce and Pudding came to pick up Pai and Taruto. Ichigo and Kisshu walked to school, and got there on time for once. Moe and Miwa were waiting at the gates, and they ran over to greet Ichigo.

"Ichigo, we haven't seen you all summer," Moe said. "Who's this?"

"This is Kisshu, he's my boyfriend," Ichigo said.

"So you heard Aoyama disappeared?" Moe asked.

"Yeah, but I broke up with him before that, he was cheating on me with one of my coworkers," Ichigo said.

"If he comes back, he's going to be mincemeat!" Moe said.

"Have fun with that, but don't get beat up by his fan club," Ichigo said. "We have to go to the office, Kisshu's new here."

"Okay," Miwa said. "We'll come too."

Ichigo smiled and led the way to the office, then to the front desk. The receptionist looked up and said, "You're the new student, right?"

"Hai," Kisshu said.

"Okay, Ichigo will show you around," the receptionist said.

"Thanks," Kisshu said.

"Our first period is History," Ichigo said. "Moe, Miwa, are you in our class?"

"Yup, we pulled a few strings to make sure that we'd be there for you," Miwa said as they walked up to the classroom.

"Uh-oh, what'd you two do this time?" Ichigo asked.

"It's safer to keep you in the dark," Moe said.

"Great…" Ichigo sighed.

They reached the classroom, and sat down together. The teacher came in seconds later, and went to the front of the room. "Alright, we've got a new student with us this year, and I'd like you all to make him feel welcome. Ikisatashi Kisshu, would you stand up so everyone can see you?"

Kisshu obeyed, and sat back down when the teacher said, "Thank you. Now, did you all do the homework?"

Everyone except Kisshu said, "Hai, Sensei."

"Alright, I'm coming around to collect it, so please get it out," the teacher said. She got up as everyone started digging in their bags. Ichigo had finished on time for once, and she took hers out as the teacher started collecting them. When the teacher had finished, she put the papers on her desk, and started the lesson. About halfway through the class, Ichigo, Moe and Miwa noticed the rest of the girls were starting to lose interest in the lesson and were dreamily staring at Kisshu. Ichigo exchanged glances with Moe and Miwa, and they nodded slightly.

Finally the bell rang, and everyone headed out. "It's already starting," Moe sighed.

"What is?" Kisshu asked.

"The rest of the female population in this school has decided you're hot, and they're going to try everything they can to separate you from us," Ichigo said. "We're going to start having problems by recess at the latest."

"The idiots will try to get around us," Miwa said. "If there are actually any girls besides us at this school with brains, they'll stay away, but the majority of the girls will be after you, Kisshu."

"It's a good thing I'll never be interested in anyone but Ichigo," Kisshu said.

"Good," Moe and Miwa said together.

By recess, even Kisshu had noticed the girls staring at him. And it was driving him nuts. Ichigo noticed and said telepathically, _The only thing you can't do is take your swords out. You'll get arrested. We'll protect you from them anyways._

_Okay, thanks, _Kisshu replied. _I'll need all the help I can get._

As they were walking out of the classroom, Miwa asked, "Inside or outside?"

"Let's try outside, but if it gets too bad, we find a deserted classroom," Ichigo said. "The cafeteria is NOT a good idea."

"Okay," Miwa said.

They headed outside, and sat down with their lunches under a large tree. The only problem with large trees was that the other girls could peek around them, and that's exactly what they were doing. "Okay, NOT one of my better ideas," Ichigo admitted. "Let's go inside before we get swarmed."

"Good plan," Miwa said. The four of them got up, and headed inside, aware that they were being followed. As they went in the door, Moe kicked the doorstop, effectively locking their pursuers out.

"Deserted classroom, here we come," Ichigo said. "It's too bad we'll probably never be able to eat outside again."

Moe smirked. "Unless…" she said. Miwa and Ichigo smirked too, and Ichigo said, "Let's go. You've got great ideas, Moe."

"Are you guys using telepathy or something?" Kisshu asked. "How do you know what you're all thinking?"

"We've known each other since we were three," Moe said. "And in case you're wondering what we're talking about this time, we're going to eat on the roof."

"Cool!" Kisshu said. "I like being up high."

The girls smiled, and Miwa led the way to the roof. They sat down together, and started eating. Halfway through the recess period, they heard footsteps on the stairs, and flinched. Surprisingly, however, it wasn't the principal or a teacher, it was a boy who looked really sad. "Yoki?" Miwa asked.

"Yup…" the boy said.

"You know him?" Kisshu asked.

"Yoki is my cousin, we were born on the same day," Miwa said. "Aside from you, he's the only boy at this school I actually like. The rest of them are jerks."

"I'm glad you don't think I'm a jerk," Kisshu said.

Miwa smiled slightly and said, "So Yoki, why are you sad?"

"My girlfriend says she'd rather try to get Kisshu then be with me," Yoki sighed. "So I told her we're over, and she didn't even care. Miwa, you were right about the girls at this school."

"Just out of curiosity, are you mad at me?" Kisshu asked.

"No, I know it's not your fault," Yoki sighed. "She doesn't have much of a chance with you, but she's still willing to dump me so she can try. I guess she doesn't have a heart."

"Actually, she doesn't have any chance with me, because I'll never love anyone but Ichigo," Kisshu said. "Those girls are idiots."

"Ichigo is lucky…" Yoki said.

"Yoki, who were you going out with?" Miwa asked.

"Monari Mei," Yoki said.

"And where is she now?" Miwa asked.

"The cafeteria," Yoki said.

"Moe, any interest?" Miwa asked.

"Any time," Moe said with a smirk. "Kisshu, Ichigo, we'll be back, you try to cheer Yoki up."

"Okay," Ichigo said. "Just don't kill her, k?"

"Oh, fine," Miwa said, as she and Moe went off to find their prey.

"Yoki, come sit with us," Ichigo said. "Let them be, they've gone into 'destroy' mode again."

Yoki sighed and sat down with her and Kisshu. "I'm doomed…" he said glumly.

"No, you're not," Ichigo said firmly. "Mei doesn't deserve a boyfriend if she thinks dumping you will get her Kisshu. You'll find someone, so don't get depressed. It doesn't necessarily need to be a girl from this school, you know. I met Kisshu at Café Mew Mew, and we got close. He helped me get through breaking up with Aoyama, who was cheating on me. And he helped me get through my dad's death as well. You're a good guy, you deserve someone with a heart."

"Thanks," Yoki said, slightly more cheerful. He looked at Kisshu, and said, "You're lucky, Kisshu. You've got the best girl in the entire world."

Ichigo turned red as Kisshu said, "I know, and I'll never forget how lucky I am."

Yoki smiled, and Kisshu smiled back.

The bell rang, and they packed up. "I guess we'd better bring Moe and Miwa's stuff," Ichigo said. "I thought they'd be back by now."

"Oh well, I guess they got carried away again," Yoki said. "I'll get Miwa's." He picked up her bag, and Kisshu got Moe's. They went back into the school, and looked in the cafeteria. It was deserted, so they went up to Ichigo and Kisshu's next class. Ichigo took Miwa's bag from Yoki and said, "Thanks Yoki, I hope things get better."

"Me too, thanks," Yoki said. "Ja ne."

"Ja ne," Ichigo and Kisshu said. As they started to go into the classroom, the intercom came on and said, _"Ikisatashi Kisshu and Momomiya Ichigo, please come to the office."_

Kisshu and Ichigo looked at each other, and ran for the office.

They went through the door, and stopped, a bit out of breath. Moe and Miwa were there with the principal and a rather battered-looking girl. The principal sighed and said, "I just thought I'd ask whether it's a good idea to suspend these two, despite the fact that Miss Monari here got beaten up for dumping Miwa's cousin."

"It's actually a very bad idea," Ichigo said. "If they're not here, the girls are going to go nuts because they think Kisshu's hot. Without Moe and Miwa, your school will go to hell in a matter of hours."

"And if girls start hurting Ichigo, _I'm _going to hurt _them_," Kisshu said. "Isn't it better to let Moe and Miwa handle it?"

The principal sighed and said, "Fine… even though you don't look like you're going to do much damage…"

"I'm solid muscle, I just have a fast metabolism," Kisshu said through gritted teeth.

"In other words, I should stop talking now?" the principal sighed.

"Yes," Ichigo, Moe, Miwa and Kisshu said in unison.

"Fine… I'll stop suspending you…" the principal said resignedly. "It's obviously not doing anyone any good."

"YES!" Moe and Miwa shouted.

"That doesn't mean you can beat up people for no reason; it's only if it's someone who hurt you or your friends," the principal said.

"Oh, we know that," Miwa said. "We're angels- unless Ichigo, Kisshu or Yoki gets hurt. Then we turn into the person who hurt them's worst nightmare."

"Great…" the principal said. "Get to class."

"Okay!" the four teens said cheerfully, and headed out.

**Finally, another chapter! Review and tell me what you think!**


	16. School

**Depression Chapter 16:**

**School**

The rest of the day passed without incident, and Ichigo and Kisshu headed to the Café, while Moe and Miwa went home.

The Café was as busy as ever, and everyone was working hard. Eventually the rush died down, and closing time was soon after. The Cyniclons teleported Sakura and Ichigo home, and they sat down with the dinner they had gotten at the Café.

Kisshu and Ichigo weren't exactly looking forward to school the next day, but had no choice but to go in. "At least Moe and Miwa should be there," Ichigo sighed.

Sure enough, Moe and Miwa were waiting at the gates when they got there, and Miwa said, "Hi, how's it going?"

"Not looking forward to another day here, but other than that, not too bad," Kisshu said.

Moe looked somewhat grim as she said, "I overheard some girls talking about starting a Kisshu fan club, like the one Aoyama had. That's not good."

"We're screwed, aren't we?" Ichigo asked. "Those fan clubs are competitive. It's not going to be easy to beat up a crowd."

"I'd help, but it's better if we don't have to," Kisshu said. "Any ideas?"

"Not at the moment, but we'll think of something," Miwa said. "We'd better get to class." The four friends ran for the classroom, getting there just before the bell. The History teacher was not known for her strictness, so this wasn't a pleasant way to start the day. Today the girls had decided they would send Kisshu little love notes, and Kisshu was doing pretty well at ignoring them at first. After the second note, he started quietly crumpling up everything that got put on his desk. Halfway through the class, he had so many crumpled up notes that it was kind of hard to work, so he sighed softly and raised his hand.

"Yes, Kisshu?" the teacher asked.

"Can I throw out all this junk people keep passing me?" Kisshu asked. "I've already crumpled up like twenty of these pieces of paper, and I didn't think it was polite to throw them on the floor. But now I don't have room on my desk to work."

By the time he was done talking, the girls in the class (aside from Ichigo, Moe and Miwa), looked sad at hearing their love notes referred to as 'junk'.

The teacher sighed and said, "Come put them in the blue bin, we're trying to recycle paper rather than throw it out."

"Hai, Sensei," Kisshu said, and gathered up twenty little balls of paper, went to the blue recycling bin, and dumped them in. Then he went back to his seat as the teacher said, "I hope you realize that note-passing is against school rules. I will let you off easy this time, but if this ever happens again, I will read each and every little note out to the entire class. Even if you decide to pass fifty notes. I suggest that you use the rest of your time working on the lesson, rather than annoying Kisshu."

The class mainly got back to work, except for a few girls who appeared to be trying not to cry. As soon as the bell rang, four girls practically ran out of the classroom. Miwa and Moe looked after them, and said together, "Idiots."

"I agree," Ichigo said. "They seriously think Kisshu's going to fall for them if they throw paper at him?"

Kisshu just sighed and followed Ichigo to the next class. "This class should be better, the teacher's stricter," Ichigo told him.

"Let's hope," Kisshu said.

Luckily, the class, which was Math, was better, but the next class was another disaster of note-passing. After note number three, Kisshu snapped and started ripping everything handed to him into little pieces. Unfortunately, after the fifth note, the teacher heard the ripping sound and sighed, "Mr. Ikisatashi, what are you doing?"

"Ripping up all these stupid notes the girls keep passing me," Kisshu said irritably. "Can I just strangle the next person who passes me something? I just want to work in peace, but they won't leave me alone!"

"Who, exactly?" the teacher asked.

"All the girls except for Ichigo, Moe and Miwa," Kisshu said. "I take it I'm not allowed to strangle them?"

"No, I will think up a punishment after I talk with the principal about this problem," the teacher said. "But all the girls except Ichigo, Moe and Miwa should now be aware that their actions will have consequences."

There was a collective groan, and the teacher shouted, "ZIP IT! The next person to talk without raising their hand will be in detention for a week. GOT THAT!?"

The class nodded mutely and went back to work. By the time the bell rang, the girls were either nervous or in tears, and the boys were steaming. Moe, Miwa and Ichigo had already silently agreed to keep an eye out.

As they were walking out, they nearly ran into Yoki, who seemed a bit out of breath. "What's wrong?" Miwa asked.

"I came to warn you," Yoki said. "Some of the guys are forming an anti-Kisshu gang, and they're headed this way."

"Great…." Miwa sighed. "Looks like we've got more people to beat to a pulp."

"There's eight guys, and they're talking about beating Kisshu to death," Yoki said gloomily. "I really don't know what's wrong with them. Maybe they're on drugs or something."

"Well, we'll find out soon enough," Ichigo said, pointing to a bunch of people running away from eight guys who looked really menacing.

Miwa sighed and said, "Yoki, protect Ichigo if someone comes along, Moe, Kisshu and I will get rid of these jerks."

"Okay," Yoki said.

Miwa walked in front of the guys, who didn't look at all intimidated. "What do you losers want?" she asked.

"Kisshu's head," the lead guy said.

"Why?" Miwa asked.

"If he's dead, we can go back to having girlfriends," the guy said.

"The principal's going to kill you," Moe said mildly. "You do know that killing people is illegal, right?"

"Whatever," the guy said. Miwa snarled and launched herself at him, followed by Kisshu and Moe.

Yoki and Ichigo backed up as the lot of them began fighting. Five minutes later, two guys had been knocked out, and Kisshu had just thrown another headfirst on the floor. Five to go. Kisshu moved on as Moe and Miwa used one of the unconscious guys as a platform to get up a little higher, and break another guy's nose. Suddenly things got worse. One of the guys took out what looked like a kitchen knife, and while Kisshu was fighting another guy, stabbed him in the shoulder.

That was it for Ichigo. She ran over to Kisshu, grabbed the knife out of his attacker's hand, and snapped it in half. Yoki ran over, and Ichigo said, "Get Kisshu out of here, Yoki."

Yoki wasted no time in obeying, as Ichigo snarled, "You hurt Kisshu. You are going DOWN." Without waiting for a response, she kicked the guy in the stomach so hard he hit the other wall, and got knocked out. The others, including Moe and Miwa, turned to stare at her. Like a cat, she crouched, then sprang at another guy, and knocked him over, then jumped on his arm so hard it broke. This left two more; Moe and Miwa had gone back to defeating their opponent. The two guys decided to team up, and launched themselves at Ichigo. She backflipped over their heads, then smashed both fists into the back of one guy's head, knocking him out. The other guy turned- only to get the same move from Miwa. Now that the lot of them were down, Ichigo turned and ran to the nurse's office.

She found Yoki and Kisshu in there. Kisshu was on one of the beds, unconscious. "The nurse wasn't here when I got here," Yoki said. He was pressing a wad of bandages against Kisshu's injury.

Ichigo took out her cell phone and dialed the home number. Sakura picked up after two rings, and Ichigo immediately said, "Mom, get Pai out of school, we've got a major emergency on our hands. Bring him here, and I'll explain."

"_On it," _Sakura said, and hung up.

Ichigo snapped her phone shut and sighed. Two minutes later, the principal ran in with Moe and Miwa. "I called my mom, she's bringing help," Ichigo said.

"Good," the principal said with some relief. "What on Earth happened?"

"Kisshu got stabbed by one of the guys who attacked us," Ichigo said. "I told Yoki to get him out, and knocked that guy and one other out.

"Ichigo, why were your eyes glowing?" Moe asked.

"I didn't notice," Ichigo said. "I don't know."

Suddenly the office receptionist ran in with Pai and Sakura. Pai looked at Kisshu, and told Yoki, "Let me see the injury."

Yoki took the bandages away, and everyone winced. It was a really deep gash, and despite Yoki's efforts, the bleeding hadn't really slowed down. Pai looked at Ichigo, who sighed and nodded. Then he turned back to Yoki and said, "Help me get his shirt off." Yoki immediately obeyed, and Pai said, "Is there any alcohol in here?"

"Yes," the principal said, and went to a cabinet, taking out a bottle. Pai took a wad of bandages, soaked them in alcohol, and cleaned out the wound. Then he sighed, and put one hand over the wound. "Stay quiet," he said, and his hand began to glow. Ten minutes later, he took his hand away. The wound was healed, except for a thin scar. Pai put his hand on Kisshu's chest, then sighed. "He needs to rest for at least three days, if not more," he said.

"Uh… what just happened?" the principal asked.

"I'm not very good at explaining," Pai said. "Sakura, call Keiichiro, and tell him to come to Ichigo's school. Tell him it's urgent, and that you'll be the only one here that he knows. I'm taking Kisshu and Ichigo home."

"Understood," Sakura said. She took out a cell phone and dialed a number. When she got a response, she said, "Hai, this is Sakura. Come to Ichigo's school, it's an emergency. Yes, that. I'll be here, but Pai's taking Ichigo and Kisshu home. When? Okay, thanks." She shut the phone and said to the receptionist, who was still there, "Go back downstairs, we've got one more coming, and he doesn't know the layout of the building."

"H-hai," the receptionist said, and left.

Sakura sighed and said, "Pai, go. I'll handle this."

"Hai," Pai said. He picked up Kisshu, and said, "Ichigo, grab my shoulder." Ichigo wasted no time in obeying, and Pai teleported to her room.

The minute they landed, Ichigo let go of Pai and pulled the blankets back on the bed. Pai put Kisshu down, and Ichigo covered him up. "Is he going to be okay?" she asked softly.

"I'll know more when he wakes up," Pai said. "But he lost a lot of blood. He's going to need rest after this, and you need to stay with him. He won't get rest if you don't stay."

"I understand," Ichigo said. "I'll stay with him."

"Good," Pai said. Then he and Ichigo sat down to wait for Kisshu to wake up.

**I'll post again tomorrow, I think. Till then, review and please don't flame!**


	17. Explanations

**Depression Chapter 17: **

**Explanations**

_**With Sakura: **_The receptionist came back to the nurse's office a while later with Keiichiro, who thanked her politely. She smiled slightly and left. The principal sighed when she was gone, and asked, "So what's going on?"

"I'll explain, but everyone here has to keep this a secret, or Kisshu and Ichigo could be killed," Keiichiro said.

The principal, Moe, Miwa, and Yoki looked scared, and the principal said, "I promise not to tell, and I'm sure these three will promise too, right?"

"Hai," Moe, Miwa and Yoki said.

Keiichiro nodded, and said, "You know about Tokyo Mew Mew, right?"

"Hai, the girls who were fighting the aliens," the principal said.

"I was one of the creators of that team," Keiichiro said. "And Ichigo is the leader. She's Mew Ichigo."

Everyone except Sakura had their jaws on the floor. "So… what does that make Kisshu?" Moe asked.

"Kisshu is an alien," Keiichiro said. "The Mews and aliens formed a truce over the summer. Unfortunately, they aren't really able to go back to their home planet, since they killed their leader. Another development occurred in July, and the three aliens, Kisshu, and his brothers Pai and Taruto, came to live with Sakura and Ichigo, after the death of Ichigo's father. Pai had seen how sad Sakura and Ichigo were, and suggested that since the three of them are orphans, they could live with Sakura and Ichigo, so they'd have some company. It's really worked out well. And in case you're wondering, Pai is the guy who was just here. He has the ability to heal, which is why Ichigo told Sakura to take him out of school."

"Kisshu doesn't look like the alien we saw on the news," Miwa commented.

"Pai developed a pill that allows them to appear human," Keiichiro explained. "That's why."

"Do you think Kisshu's going to be okay?" Yoki asked.

"With Pai and Ichigo around, he should be back on his feet soon," Sakura said. "However, I need to take them both out of school until Kisshu is recovered enough to come back. I'll let you know when I know more."

"Why does Ichigo need to stay home?" Miwa asked.

Sakura sighed, and said, "Kisshu won't be able to get the rest he needs to recover if Ichigo's not there. For some reason, he can't sleep if she's not nearby, and he knows even in his sleep if she leaves. That's why I need Ichigo to stay. I may also take Pai out for a few days, but since he doesn't go to this school, I'll make that decision later."

The principal sighed. "Alright, I understand," he said. "You're right, it'll be very bad if news about those two gets out. I won't tell, and judging by their past behavior, these three won't either. Tell Ichigo and Kisshu that they can come back when they're ready, and hopefully I'll have the boys in this school under control by then."

"Thank you," Keiichiro said. He turned to Sakura, and asked, "Do you need a ride home?"

"No, I drove Pai here from his school," Sakura said. "But I should get home." She turned to the principal, and said, "I hope you have things in order soon, good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it," the principal sighed.

Sakura turned to Moe, Miwa and Yoki and asked, "Do you three want to come over at some point?"

"Can we come today, or is tomorrow better?" Moe asked.

"I think you can come both, but I can't promise Kisshu will be awake," Sakura said.

"That's fine," Miwa said. "We can come by after school."

"Um… after today's 'incident', I'd feel better if Mrs. Momomiya just took the two of you home with her," the principal said. "I'll call your parents to explain, and don't worry, you're not suspended."

"Okay," Moe and Miwa said. "Is that okay?"

"Yes, I'll take you back, and we can see if Kisshu's awake yet," Sakura said. "Come on, let's get in the car."

Moe and Miwa followed her out, leaving the others behind.

_**With Pai, Ichigo and Kisshu: **_Kisshu was still unconscious, and Ichigo was worried. Pai noticed, but before he could say anything, Kisshu groaned softly. "Kishy?" Ichigo asked softly.

Kisshu opened his eyes and turned his head in her direction. "Koneko-chan? What happened?" he asked.

"You passed out from losing too much blood," Ichigo said. "You're going to need to take it easy for a while."

"I hate school," Kisshu said. "Why doesn't my shoulder hurt anymore?"

"Pai healed you," Ichigo said. "Mom and Keiichiro are currently at the school explaining things to the principal, Moe, Miwa and Yoki."

"I hope he understands," Kisshu said.

"Me too," Ichigo sighed.

Kisshu tried to sit up, but ended up falling back against the pillows. Pai sighed. "You probably won't be able to sit up till tomorrow, so I'd suggest not trying it," he said.

Kisshu sighed, and settled back against the pillows. Suddenly the front door opened, and Sakura called, "I'm back, and I brought Moe and Miwa!"

"We're in our room," Ichigo called back.

A few minutes passed, and they heard footsteps on the stairs. Sakura came in, and said, "Oh, you're awake?"

"Yeah, but I can't sit up," Kisshu said. "Pai says I probably won't be able to till tomorrow."

"Is it okay for Moe and Miwa to come up?" Sakura asked.

"As long as they don't mind that I can't really do much right now," Kisshu said.

"They won't," Sakura said. "I'll go tell them you're awake." She left, and came back a few minutes later with Moe and Miwa. Ichigo had switched to sitting on the bed, and both she and Kisshu looked up as Moe and Miwa came over.

"Sorry this happened to you, Kisshu," Miwa said.

"It's not your fault," Kisshu said, surprised. "Did you defeat the rest of the guys?"

"Yeah, and Ichigo helped," Miwa said. "Her eyes were glowing pink when you got stabbed."

Kisshu looked at Ichigo, who said, "I didn't notice until Moe said something."

Kisshu looked back at Moe and Miwa, and asked, "Sakura told you everything?"

"Yeah, and don't worry, we won't tell, and I'll make sure Yoki doesn't talk either," Miwa said. "The principal has agreed to keep quiet as well. You two are safe, and we'll keep the other students away."

"Thanks," Kisshu said. He was sounding tired, and Ichigo said, "Kishy, you sound tired, maybe you should go back to sleep."

"Are you going to be here?" Kisshu asked.

"Of course," Ichigo said. "I'll always be here. I know you won't get any rest without me around."

She looked over at Moe and Miwa, who took the hint and said, "Hope you feel better, Kisshu."

"Thanks…" Kisshu said sleepily. Moe and Miwa smiled and left with Sakura as Ichigo climbed onto the bed next to Kisshu and started stroking his hair, which put him to sleep pretty quickly.

Kisshu slept through the rest of the day and night, and Ichigo climbed in with him overnight. The next morning, she woke up a bit irritated, because Kisshu was poking her. "Kisshu, why are you poking me?" she asked wearily.

"I can sit up, I wanted you to wake up so we can have fun," Kisshu said innocently. "Are you awake?"

"Awake and irritated," Ichigo said. "Did you have to poke me awake? Cats need way more sleep than Cyniclons do."

Kisshu looked sad, and said, "I just wanted someone to play with…."

Unaware that the sad look was fake, Ichigo got worried, and said, "I'm sorry, would a kiss make it better?"

"YAY! It worked!" Kisshu said happily.

"Uh… what worked?" Ichigo asked.

"I wanted a kiss, so I decided to act sad until you offered to give me one," Kisshu said happily. "That worked WAY better than I thought it would."

"You know what you're asking for, right?" Ichigo asked.

"Besides a kiss?" Kisshu asked, puzzled.

"You're asking… for a TICKLE WAR!" Ichigo said. She promptly started tickling him in the stomach, causing him to laugh and start tickling her back. This tickle war didn't last long, however; Kisshu started coughing, and Ichigo immediately stopped tickling him and pulled him into a sitting position. She held him up until the coughing subsided, then helped him lie back down and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I don't feel good…." Kisshu said.

Ichigo felt his forehead, and said, "I guess a tickle war wasn't a good idea; you're burning up. I'll go see if Pai's here, k?"

"Now my stomach doesn't feel good; can you bring a bucket in here before getting Pai?" Kisshu asked.

"Sure, I'll be right back," Ichigo said, and ran to the bathroom, grabbed the bucket under the sink, and ran back to Kisshu. He had a hand over his mouth, and looked pretty green. Ichigo handed him the bucket, and he put it on his lap right before he threw up. Luckily he managed to get it all in the bucket, but by the time he got everything out, he really didn't look good. "I'm going to go see if Pai's still here, k?" Ichigo asked.

"K," Kisshu said.

Ichigo went to Pai's room, but the door was open and he wasn't in there. She went downstairs, and saw Pai in the living room. She went over and said, "Kisshu's come down with something; can you come help?"

"Yeah," Pai said. He went upstairs, followed by Ichigo, and went to her room. Kisshu had put the bucket on the floor, and looked up at them. Pai came over and put a hand on his forehead, then said, "Not good. And you're having stomach problems too?"

"Yeah," Kisshu said. "Can you help?"

"I'll do my best," Pai said. He put one hand on Kisshu's chest and the other on his stomach, then began to glow. Kisshu fell back to sleep, and soon after, the color left his cheeks, and his facial expression relaxed. Pai took his hands away a few minutes later, and said softly, "He needs to sleep off the healing, so stay with him. Oh, and no more tickle wars; they're not good for Kisshu even when he's not sick."

"I can understand when he's sick, but why not when he's not sick?" Ichigo asked.

"Kisshu's extremely sensitive to being tickled for some reason," Pai said. "I'm sure you've noticed that when you have tickle wars with him, he always loses. He usually gives in a while before he's had it, because tickling him too much could actually hurt him. And since I'm pretty sure you don't want to hurt him, I'd suggest no more tickle wars."

"Alright," Ichigo said. "I won't tickle him anymore. Will he be okay?"

"When he wakes up, I think he'll be feeling better, but he probably shouldn't be getting up till tomorrow," Pai said. "You should keep him from pushing himself, or he won't heal properly."

"Okay, I'll make sure he takes it easy," Ichigo said.

"Good," Pai said, and left them alone.

**Kisshu will probably get better by next chapter, but I don't think 'next chapter' will be tonight. While I work on Neko, please REVIEW!**


	18. Recovery

**Depression Chapter 18:**

**Recovery**

Kisshu slept for the better part of the day, waking up around dinnertime. Ichigo was still with him, and when he woke up, she asked, "Kishy?"

"Hi Koneko-chan," Kisshu said. "How long have I been sleeping?"

"It's been about seven hours," Ichigo said. "I'm sorry I tickled you, it obviously wasn't a good idea."

"I probably should have mentioned sooner that too much tickling can hurt me," Kisshu said.

Ichigo sighed and said, "It's almost time for dinner, how's your stomach?"

"It feels fine, do you know what we're having?" Kisshu asked.

"No, but if you're okay on your own, I can go ask," Ichigo said.

"I can manage," Kisshu said. "But if it has anything to do with noodles, I probably won't eat it."

Ichigo smiled. "I'll go check, and if it is noodles, I'll make you some grilled cheese," she said. "Is that okay?"

"Yep, thanks," Kisshu said.

Ichigo ruffled his hair gently, and went downstairs. She went to the kitchen, and Sakura looked up from whatever she was making. "Kisshu's awake?" she asked.

"Yeah, and he says his stomach feels fine," Ichigo said. "He also says he won't eat noodles. What are you making?"

"Fish stew," Sakura said. "Go ask if that's okay."

Ichigo nodded and went back upstairs. "Kishy, Mom is making fish stew, is that okay? It doesn't involve noodles," she said when she got back to her room.

"Fish stew sounds good," Kisshu said. "It's okay to eat up here, right?"

"Yes, and it's not like you've got much of a choice; you can't walk yet," Ichigo said.

Kisshu sighed, and Ichigo said, "I'm sorry for bringing that up. I'll eat up here too if you want."

"Thanks," Kisshu said.

Ichigo smiled. "I'll go get some for us, I'll be back soon," she said. Kisshu nodded, so she went back downstairs, and to the kitchen. "Mom, Kisshu does want fish stew, and I said I'd eat with him," Ichigo told Sakura. "Can I have two bowls to take upstairs?"

"Sure, but be careful," Sakura said. She ladled stew into two bowls, and handed them to Ichigo, who took them upstairs.

When she got back to her room, Ichigo asked, "Kishy, are you able to sit up?"

"Yeah," Kisshu said, and sat up. "That smells good."

"It tastes good too, or at least I like it," Ichigo said. She handed a bowl to Kisshu, who took it as Ichigo settled down to eat at her desk.

"This is really good," Kisshu said after two spoonfuls.

"I'm glad you like it," Ichigo said. "Mom's a really great cook, isn't she?"

"Yep!" Kisshu said happily.

After dinner, Kisshu and Ichigo played Hangman for a while, then went to bed. The next day, Kisshu was feeling stronger, and was able to walk. Pai claimed he wasn't back to full strength, though, and told him he needed to take one more day off. Both Kisshu and Ichigo were more than happy to have an extra day off; school was a nightmare.

Later that day, Ichigo and Kisshu were sitting on their bed playing Twenty Questions when the doorbell rang. They looked at each other, and Ichigo said, "Maybe it's Moe and Miwa."

As it turned out, she was right. Sakura came in and asked, "Are you up for visitors, Kisshu? Moe and Miwa are here."

"Yeah, I'm fine, we were playing Twenty Questions," Kisshu said.

"I'm creaming him," Ichigo said.

Sakura giggled. "I'll send them up," she said, and left.

A few minutes later, Moe and Miwa came in. "Kisshu, are you feeling better?" Miwa asked.

"I'm pretty much fine, Pai's insisting that I take it easy till tomorrow," Kisshu said. "Ichigo and I will probably be back tomorrow."

"That's good, we get lonely without at least Ichigo," Moe said. "It's too bad that everyone except you two in that school is a jerk, an idiot, or a teacher."

"Sorry we can't come back sooner," Kisshu said. "How's it going at the school since the incident?"

"Those guys got expelled for having knives and attacking people," Moe said. "The principal held an assembly yesterday to say that it's not okay to attack or harass people. The real shocker was when the principal called us up on stage and told the entire school that we now have permission from him to beat up people who hurt you two. And that you two are welcome to fight back as well. Everyone in there shouted, "WHAT!?" at the same time, and the principal said, "You heard me. I've had it with the fact that Kisshu and Ichigo are getting harassed by the girls and attacked by the boys. And they've had it too. I'd recommend staying out of their way, or you can get beat up. And then suspended for not following the rules. I will also be sending a memo out to all your parents explaining the situation." The other students were NOT happy, but they all know that their parents won't be happy if they get suspended."

Miwa continued, "I think that should solve the problem, but we'll beat up anyone who doesn't follow the rules. We'll probably get avoided now, but that might be for the best."

"You two are amazing," Kisshu said. "And this is great!"

"It sure is," Ichigo said. "I can't believe the principal finally realized you two beating people up is really a good thing!"

"Neither can we," Miwa said. "But you're right, this is great!"

"How's Yoki doing?" Kisshu asked.

"He's okay, but people sometimes avoid him too, so I think he'll be hanging out with us more often," Miwa said.

"That's fine, since he knows our secret," Kisshu said.

"That reminds me," Moe said. "Why didn't you tell us? And why didn't we know about your dad? I didn't realize that he had died until Keiichiro said that Kisshu, Pai and Taruto were living with you because of his death."

Ichigo sighed and said, "I wasn't sure how you'd react to finding out your best friend was now half-cat, half-human. I was scared of losing your friendship, because I'm not really human anymore, and I wasn't sure if that would change things. And while we were actually still fighting, knowing might have put the two of you in danger. And then after, I really didn't see you guys, and I didn't really want to talk about it over the phone."

"Where were you all summer anyways?" Miwa asked.

"Taking care of Kishy," Ichigo said. "He started getting depressed a lot this summer, and then he read my diary and saw the page where I was talking about that I thought he didn't like me, but I loved him. He went into emotional shock after that, and while he was still recovering, Pai made him laugh so hard he stopped breathing for nearly four minutes, and it took another two weeks for him to recover from that. And then there was my dad's funeral, and things were just crazy. I'm really sorry."

"So why didn't you tell us about your dad?" Miwa asked. "We would have been there for you."

"I know, but the day before he died was the day Kishy stopped breathing from laughing too hard, and not only was I totally broken up over my dad dying, I was also taking care of Kishy, because he literally couldn't move for about a week," Ichigo said. "I guess I didn't think of it, especially since you both said something about camp, and I didn't remember when that was," Ichigo said.

"Oh right," Miwa said. Then she turned to Kisshu and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Kisshu said. "I wasn't okay after I stopped breathing; I literally couldn't move or speak above a whisper, but now I'm fine. Unfortunately the only thing Pai said I could eat while I was recovering was cold noodle dishes, so I officially hate noodles."

"Oh well, there's tons of other foods besides noodles," Miwa said.

"I like apples," Kisshu said. "Ichigo doesn't know why there's not any apple ice cream, do you know?"

"Maybe it's too hard to flavor," Miwa suggested. "I'm not sure, though."

"Oh well," Kisshu said. "At least there are lots of other apple things."

"You're pretty obsessed," Ichigo said. "I'm just glad you like chocolate as well."

"Why?" Kisshu asked.

"Because there's more variety," Ichigo said. "You can do a lot with apples, but you can do a lot more with chocolate. I like chocolate mousse, and lots of other chocolate things."

"Don't you like apples?" Kisshu asked.

"Yes, but I'm not as obsessed as you are," Ichigo said. "I like strawberries."

"Maybe you could ask Mrs. Momomiya to make strawberry shortcakes," Moe suggested.

Ichigo's eyes lit up, and Moe giggled. "On the other hand, doesn't Café Mew Mew serve that?" she asked.

"Yeah…" Ichigo said dreamily.

"Koneko-chan, are you okay?" Kisshu asked.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about strawberry shortcake," Ichigo said sheepishly.

"I don't think I've had that," Kisshu said. "Is it good?"

"Just about anything with strawberries is good for Ichigo," Miwa said. "Fresh strawberries, strawberry ice cream, strawberry shortcake, strawberry jam…."

"Ichigo, you're drooling," Moe said.

Ichigo turned red and wiped her mouth. "Sorry…" she said.

Moe smiled. "It's fine," she said. "We have to get going, but we'll see you at school tomorrow, k?"

"Sure," Ichigo said. "Ja ne!"

Miwa and Moe waved and left, passing Pai on their way out. "Hi Pai, what's up?" Ichigo asked.

"I thought I'd give Kisshu one more check-up before sending him back to school," Pai said.

Kisshu sighed and laid back on the bed. Pai put a hand on his chest for a minute, and said, "You're back to full strength, but you still have to go to bed early tonight, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kisshu said disgruntledly. "I hate going to bed early…."

"You'll live," Pai said. "Sakura also said something about chocolate mousse after dinner, so you've got that to look forward to. And I'm supposed to tell you dinner is in ten minutes."

"Fine… we'll be down soon," Kisshu said.

Pai left as Kisshu sat up and sighed. "Pai is such a worrywart," he said.

"I'm sure it's just because he cares," Ichigo said. "Do you want a kiss before dinner?"

"Yeah!" Kisshu said excitedly.

Ichigo smiled and kissed him.

**A bit short, but I liked it. Please review, and I hope you liked it. I'm off to work on Namida for a while.**


	19. Cafe Fun

**Depression Chapter 19:**

**Café Fun**

Pai and Sakura made Kisshu and Ichigo go to bed early, and while they both weren't happy, they obeyed.

The next morning, they got up and started getting ready for school. Both of them were apprehensive, despite what Moe and Miwa had told them about the assembly. After breakfast, Sakura took them both aside and said, "If anything happens, I'm at the Café, k?"

"Okay," Kisshu and Ichigo sighed.

"I hate school," Kisshu said. "It wasn't even this bad back at my old school, and that was pretty bad."

Sakura sighed. "I know, but now that Moe and Miwa have permission to beat people up, I think it'll get better. The others can't go to the principal or the teachers and get Moe and Miwa suspended anymore; nor can they complain, because they'll get suspended themselves. I know it's hard, but I hope it'll be better."

"We hope so too," Ichigo sighed. "Bye…"

Sakura hugged them together, and said, "Good luck."

"We'll need it," Kisshu said. He and Ichigo hugged Sakura back, then left for school.

As usual, Moe and Miwa were waiting at the gates. "Glad you're back," Moe said. "It's been lonely without you. I just hope things are going to be better."

"So do we," Kisshu said.

They went to their first class, and the girls sat down in a half circle around Kisshu. The teacher came in as the rest of the class settled down, and said, "Since I've been informed that Kisshu and Ichigo are back today, I'll be going over the new rules, which you WILL follow, unless you want to get beaten up and _then _suspended." She looked around, and said, "Alright then. As you know, note-passing was already against the rules, as is talking out of turn. That will now be enforced far more strictly, so anyone caught doing that will be getting a week in detention. And you should know that if you're getting beaten up by Moe, Miwa, Kisshu, or Ichigo, there's not a teacher in this school who's going to help you. You heard the principal, and I think all the teachers agree with him. We're sick of students ignoring us, not doing their work, and annoying Kisshu, so you can forget us suspending the four students I just named. You come to this school to learn, NOT to annoy people, and I suggest you remember that. Now, let's start the lesson, and NO, I'm not taking questions on the new rules, Miss Sawaguchi."

The girl in question turned bright red, and the students started edging away from her like she had the plague. The teacher sighed and said, "Let's begin."

The morning classes were uneventful, and the four friends were able to work in peace. Recess came, and they went up on the roof to eat. They were joined by Yoki, and they started talking.

"So far so good," Ichigo said.

"Yep," Moe said, watching Kisshu take an apple out of his bag. "Kisshu, don't you ever get tired of apples?"

Kisshu looked at her, then said cheerfully, "Nope! Some things never change." He bit into his apple, looking happy.

"That's certainly one of the more unusual obsessions I've seen," the principal commented as he came up the stairs.

"You wouldn't think that if you came from a place where fruit was non-existent," Kisshu said calmly, taking another bite. "Maybe I should ask Sakura if I can bring two apples…."

"Do you have any idea how many bags she buys per week already?" Ichigo asked. "And all the apple desserts she makes? I think one for lunch is probably good, seeing as she has to pay for all those apples."

"My mother used to tell me if I kept eating so many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I'd turn into one," the principal commented, watching Kisshu.

"My mom said that about peaches," Yoki said. "Miwa, didn't Aunt Yume say that to you about raisins?"

"Yup," Miwa said.

"So if I keep eating apples, I'll turn into one?" Kisshu asked. "Or is that just a saying?"

Ichigo sighed. "It's just a saying," she said. "As you can see, Mr. Izika is not a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, nor is Yoki a peach. You can ask Pai, but I don't think Cyniclons can turn into apples any more than humans can."

"Maybe I will ask Pai," Kisshu said, finishing his apple. "I wonder what he'll say…"

"So Mr. Izika, why'd you come to see us?" Miwa asked.

"How's it going today, with the others?" Mr. Izika asked.

"Fine, not a single problem," Miwa said. "The new rules are working out so well it's a bit creepy. But then again, people probably don't want us to beat them up, so maybe that's why."

"Good," Mr. Izika said. "I'm sure I'll hear of it if there are any problems."

"I'm sure you will," Moe said sweetly. "Because the 'problems' will be screaming for mercy."

"I'm sure," Mr. Izika said dryly, and left.

The rest of the day passed without incident, and Ichigo and Kisshu headed to the Café to start preparation for the day. Pai and Lettuce arrived when they did, and Kisshu went over to Pai. "Hey Pai, the principal said something about how eating too much of the same food makes you turn into that food," Kisshu said. "Ichigo said it doesn't happen to humans, but if I eat too many apples, will I turn into one?"

"Considering the amount of apples you eat, I'd say you'll be an apple in about five days," Pai said in monotone, like always.

Kisshu looked panicked, and to everyone's surprise, Pai actually started laughing. "Jeez, you couldn't tell I was just messing with you?" Pai asked Kisshu.

"Of course not, since when do YOU tell jokes?" Kisshu asked irritably. "And quit laughing, you've successfully freaked both Taruto AND Pudding out. I suppose I shouldn't listen to you from now on?"

"What would give you that idea?" Pai asked.

"You told me I'd turn into an apple," Kisshu said. "And you said it in that really monotonic voice that usually means you're dead serious."

"Seriously, why would you believe you'd actually turn into an apple?" Pai asked.

Kisshu just sighed and poked Pai in the side, producing a loud, "EEP!" Lettuce and Ichigo started laughing as Pai glared at Kisshu. "Payback," Kisshu snickered- then ran for it as Pai tried to grab him.

This resulted in Pai chasing Kisshu around the Café, while everyone else stood around laughing as Pai failed time and time again to capture Kisshu. The only two people not watching were Sakura and Keiichiro, who were baking. Eventually Keiichiro got curious about the amount of laughter coming from the main room, and looked out to see Pai still chasing Kisshu around yelling, "Come back here so I can kill you!"

Kisshu evaded every single one of Pai's capture attempts, and called back, "Oh, that's a great motivation for me to stop, Pai. 'Come back so I can kill you'? There's no way! You'll have to catch me!"

"Yeah, and you're doing a pretty pathetic job of that, Pai," Ichigo called out. "Just look at yourself! You must be pretty out of shape, Kisshu's doing way better than you are!"

"I'll kill you after I catch Kisshu," Pai called over his shoulder.

"Not going to happen!" Kisshu said in a sing-song voice, which made Pai turn red.

By this point even Zakuro was at least smiling; the others were in hysterics. Keiichiro sighed and called, "What happened to preparation?"

"That can be done when Kisshu is dead," Pai said, causing everyone, even Zakuro, to burst out laughing again.

Keiichiro sighed. "Opening is in ten minutes, you need to stop running around and start getting ready. Pai, stop trying to kill Kisshu, you should know better."

"Why do you have to sound like my dad?" Pai complained.

"I wasn't trying to," Keiichiro said. "Go get your uniforms on and quit playing around."

"Yup, he sounds like Dad," Taruto said.

Pai sighed and stopped chasing Kisshu, who stopped a ways away from him as well. The boys went to get changed, and the girls did the same. They came out right on time, and Ichigo went to open the doors.

Surprisingly, the line outside wasn't too long, but Ichigo and the others still started seating people, and the workday began. As the day went on, it got more crowded, and they were hard-put to get all the orders in, as usual. By closing time, they were all exhausted, to the point where Pai had forgotten about killing Kisshu.

"I can't take another step…" Ichigo sighed.

"I think I'm too tired to teleport," Taruto said.

"I just want to go to bed," Kisshu said. "I'm completely exhausted. I'm too tired even to want dinner."

Keiichiro came out of the kitchen, and said, "I'm giving people rides home, you're all looking like you could fall asleep any minute."

"We could," Ichigo said. "I never want to have another day like that."

"Maybe tomorrow will be better," Lettuce said. "It's good that we made a lot of money, but it's not good that we're this exhausted."

"I'll say," Kisshu said. "Can we go home now?"

"Yes, I'm driving you three, Sakura and Ichigo home first," Keiichiro said. "Come on, let's get in my van."

Kisshu helped Ichigo up, and he, Pai and Taruto followed Keiichiro and Sakura to Keiichiro's van. Kisshu was too tired to be nervous about being in the van, and just got in with Ichigo, Pai and Taruto.

By the time they got home, everyone except Sakura and Keiichiro was half-asleep. Sakura said goodbye to Keiichiro, and unlocked the front door. Kisshu and Ichigo went upstairs and basically fell into bed without even bothering about pajamas. Pai and Taruto said good night to Sakura, and pretty much did the same.

**Okay, bad chapter ending, but please review while I try to think up something for Namida. Also, I could use ideas for Neko, so PM me if you've got anything, k? **


	20. Plague

**Depression Chapter 20:**

**Plague**

The next morning, Ichigo and Kisshu woke up and immediately realized they felt awful. Sakura came in a minute later, and asked, "Aren't you getting up?"

"I feel terrible," Kisshu said.

"Same here," Ichigo said. "Can you call us in sick?"

"Okay," Sakura said. "I should check on Pai and Taruto too, they're not up either." She left, and Kisshu and Ichigo waited. Sakura came back a few minutes later, and said, "They're not feeling well either, and Pai's got a fever. Maybe it's from being so exhausted yesterday?"

"I don't know, but I DO know that I feel awful," Kisshu said. "And I'm really tired."

"Me too," Ichigo said. "Can we go back to sleep?"

"Yes, get some rest," Sakura said. She felt their foreheads, and said, "You two don't have fevers, but you should take it easy if you're not feeling well."

"K…" Kisshu said sleepily. He and Ichigo went back to sleep as Sakura left.

Ichigo woke up a while later, and realized she was feeling sick. She got up shakily, and went to the bathroom, only to find the door closed, and it sounded like someone else was throwing up. Ichigo went to the hall closet, swallowing hard, and grabbed one of the buckets in there. Since she wasn't sure if Kisshu was having the same problem, she took an extra, and went back to their room. Halfway there, she felt her stomach lurch, and threw up into one of the buckets, dropping the other one. As she was finishing, she heard Kisshu say telepathically, _Ichigo, can you bring a bucket in here? I don't think I can get up._

Ichigo grabbed the other bucket, and ran back to her room. Kisshu was looking pretty green, and he was sitting up with one hand over his mouth. Ichigo quickly handed him the extra bucket, and he took it, then threw up.

Ichigo suddenly realized her legs were shaking, and sat down on the bed quickly. Kisshu had stopped throwing up, and he asked, "You can't stand up anymore?"

"Guess not," Ichigo said. "I guess we might as well try to get more sleep; since we're both sick, it's not like it's going to make us worse if we sleep together." She set the bucket down, and climbed back in with Kisshu, then pulled the bucket closer to the bed as Kisshu set his down.

Sakura came in and said, "I was watching the news, and a lot of people are sick right now. It's like a plague or something."

"How are the other Mews?" Ichigo asked.

"I called Keiichiro, and he's calling them," Sakura said. "Kisshu, do you know if Pai can take human medicine? He's got a pretty bad fever, and cool cloths only help a little."

"I think so," Kisshu said. "You'd have to ask him- or see if Keiichiro knows."

"I'll go do that," Sakura said, and ran out.

Kisshu felt his stomach lurch, and grabbed the bucket right before he threw up. He felt Ichigo rubbing his back as he continued coughing stuff up. By the time he was done, he felt awful, and just laid back, feeling Ichigo take her hand away. He turned his head to look at her, and saw that she wasn't looking too good either. Suddenly she sat up, one hand clutching her stomach, and grabbed her bucket. Soon she too was throwing up. Kisshu started rubbing her back gently as she threw up.

When she was done, she laid back, putting the bucket down, and said weakly, "That didn't feel good."

"Same here," Kisshu said. "And it didn't help my stomach feel better, either."

"Yeah, mine still feels awful too," Ichigo said. "I wonder why so many people are sick."

"Maybe it is some kind of plague," Kisshu suggested. "Isn't that what happens when a plague hits? Lots of people get sick?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "I've got a headache now, too."

"So do I," Kisshu said. "I guess we'd be better off going back to sleep."

Before they could, though, Sakura came in and said, "Keiichiro says he'll be over with some fever medicine, and apparently all the other Mews are sick. It looks like about half the city has this sickness."

"Guess we didn't have to worry about school after all," Ichigo said.

Sakura came over and felt their foreheads, then said, "You've got fevers too. Take it easy until Keiichiro gets here, k?"

"K," Ichigo said. She and Kisshu settled back and went to sleep.

A while later, they were woken up by the doorbell, and about five minutes later, Sakura came in and said, "There's a problem; this can't be taken on an empty stomach."

"We'll manage," Ichigo said. "I doubt either of us could keep it down anyways."

Sakura sighed. "I guess you're right," she said. "I'll go get some cool cloths, that will help a little."

"K," Ichigo said. Sakura left, and Ichigo sighed, looking at Kisshu. "Is your stomach any better?" she asked.

"No, and I think I'm gonna be sick," Kisshu said, grabbing his bucket. He had barely put it in his lap before he threw up. Ichigo sat up too, and was about to start rubbing his back when she felt her stomach lurch. She grabbed the bucket, feeling sick, and threw up. Suddenly her stomach started to hurt as well, and she clutched it. Looking over at Kisshu as she finished throwing up, she saw that he was clutching his stomach as well. "This hurts," he said weakly.

"I know," Ichigo said. "It's too bad Pai is sick as well, since he's the only one who can heal."

"Yeah," Kisshu said, feeling his stomach lurch again. He threw up again as Sakura came back in.

"Do you two want to try stomach medicine?" Sakura asked.

"I don't think we could keep it down long enough for it to start working," Ichigo said. "Thanks for the thought, though."

"I brought some cool cloths, but it looks like you'll be sitting up too much to use them," Sakura said.

"Thanks anyways," Ichigo said, then swallowed hard. She quickly grabbed her bucket again as she nearly threw up on the bed. As she threw up, she started feeling worse, and then Kisshu said, "Koneko-chan, you're coughing up blood."

"I guess that explains why I feel worse than before," Ichigo said weakly. Suddenly her vision started going black, and she passed out.

Kisshu and Sakura both got worried when Ichigo passed out; this was getting bad. Suddenly an idea occurred to Kisshu, and he said, "What if this isn't a normal plague? What if we've got some new enemy coming?"

"That's bad," Sakura said. "If that's the case, they must want the strongest fighters out of commission, which is why you and Ichigo are so sick. But who would have the power to knock out a city the size of Tokyo?"

"I don't know, unless it's several people together," Kisshu said. "But you'd think they'd take me out before Ichigo."

"Unless they're taking her out because she's the leader of the Mews," Sakura said.

"I didn't think of that," Kisshu said, feeling his stomach lurch again. He threw up before continuing, "If that's the case, whoever it is must know the Mews can't fight without Ichigo. I wonder who would be doing this?"

"Cyniclons who want revenge on you guys?" Sakura suggested.

"You should let Keiichiro know," Kisshu said. "He's the only person who's able to find out more right now, since Pai's sick."

"I'll go do that," Sakura said, and ran out. Kisshu reached over and put Ichigo's bucket on the floor on her side of the bed, then laid back. He was about to go back to sleep when Sakura came back in and said, "Keiichiro's getting to work on figuring out if you're right. Is Ichigo still unconscious?"

"Yeah," Kisshu said. "I think I'll go back to sleep; you can wake me or Pai if anything happens."

"Okay," Sakura said. She left, and Kisshu settled down, falling asleep pretty quickly.

When he woke up again, he noticed it appeared to be nighttime, and Ichigo was still unconscious. He put a hand on her cheek, but she didn't even stir. Suddenly he realized his stomach wasn't feeling good again, and quickly grabbed the bucket on his side of the bed, sitting up and putting it on his lap. Then it felt like his stomach had settled back down, but just as he was putting the bucket back on the floor, he started feeling really sick. Swallowing hard, he barely managed to get the bucket on his lap before he threw up.

Just as he thought he was about to stop, he clutched his stomach as it started to hurt as well as continue lurching around. Soon the pain was making him dizzy, and he couldn't sit up too well. He put the bucket on the floor, making sure it was close enough to the bed, and laid back, still clutching his stomach. He noticed as he laid back that Ichigo was still unconscious. _How could she still be unconscious? I thought all the noise I just made would have woken her, _Kisshu thought. Suddenly the pain in his stomach started to go away, but the sick feeling didn't. He swallowed, feeling like he could throw up any second, and turned over in bed. It turned out to be a good thing he had put the bucket so close to the bed, because the minute he turned onto his stomach, he threw up again. _I guess lying on my stomach is bad for me, _he thought, and turned a bit onto his side as he continued throwing up.

A while later, he was done, and he laid back. Discovering that lying still while flat on his back made his stomach feel a little better, he went back to sleep that way.

Kisshu woke up again at around noon the next day, and noticed Ichigo was still unconscious. He felt her forehead, and noticed she didn't have a fever. _Then why is she still unconscious? _he wondered.

Sakura ran in a minute later, looking grim. "What happened?" Kisshu asked.

"You were right, there's a spaceship approaching Earth," Sakura said grimly. "And for some reason, it seems that Keiichiro and I are the only ones in Tokyo who aren't sick. Keiichiro's looking to see if anyone else isn't, but the other Mews' families are sick now, and you already knew about Pai and Taruto. Pai doesn't seem to have the stomach thing, but Taruto does. How's Ichigo?"

"She doesn't have a fever, but she's not waking up," Kisshu said.

"It's too bad Pai is sick; maybe he could figure out what's wrong," Sakura sighed.

"Maybe I can," Kisshu said. "I won't be able to fix whatever it is, but I can probably find out what's wrong." He carefully sat up, and put a hand on Ichigo's forehead, closing his eyes.

Sakura watched, and then Kisshu's eyes shot open. "What's wrong?" Sakura asked him.

"I think she's in a coma," Kisshu said shakily. "That's what it feels like. There's always the possibility I'm wrong; I'm far from being at full strength, and I'm not as good as Pai, but if I'm right, there's nothing we can do. Pai can't heal a coma, even at full strength."

"Why is that?" Sakura asked.

"Pai- and any healer on my planet, for that matter- can only heal things with a known cure," Kisshu said. "Some human sicknesses with no cure might have a Cyniclon cure, but I don't know. But there's no cure for a coma. It's like blood loss. You have to either have a transfusion, or get over it on your own. Comas are worse than blood loss, though."

Sakura took a shaky breath and said, "I'll call Keiichiro. Even if there's nothing we can do, he needs to know."

Kisshu just nodded, looking down at Ichigo. Sakura left, and Kisshu started stroking Ichigo's hair. Tears started rolling down his cheeks as he looked at her. Sakura came back and said, "Keiichiro's on his way over. Are you feeling any better?"

"My stomach feels better, but I'm still too weak to get up," Kisshu said sadly. "I want Ichigo to wake up…."

Sakura came over and sat next to him on the bed. She gently pulled him into her arms, hugging him as she said softly, "We all do. But we all have to stay strong; for her sake and for the sake of the world. That's what she would want."

Kisshu buried his face in Sakura's shoulder, and she hugged him tightly as she felt his tears soaking into her shirt.

A while later, Sakura felt Kisshu's breathing start to even out. She pulled away a bit, and saw that Kisshu was asleep. She gently helped him lie back down, and tucked him and Ichigo back in. Then she started stroking Kisshu's hair gently.

**Ooh…. What's going to happen now? Review and find out! (even though I don't exactly know myself….) :)**


	21. This is a Problem

**Depression Chapter 21:**

**This is a Problem…..**

A while later, the doorbell rang, and Sakura carefully got up, then ran downstairs. Keiichiro was at the door, and he said, "How's it going?"

"Kisshu says his stomach feels better, but he's too weak to get up," Sakura said. "And he's really depressed about Ichigo."

Keiichiro sighed, and asked, "Can I come in?"

"Of course," Sakura said, letting him in and closing the door. "Kisshu fell asleep crying, but you can come upstairs. Just be quiet, I don't want to disturb him."

Keiichiro nodded and followed Sakura upstairs. When they got to Kisshu and Ichigo's room, they saw that Kisshu was stirring. Sakura went over and sat down next to him. "Kisshu?" she asked softly.

Kisshu opened his eyes and sat up, and Sakura and Keiichiro got worried. Kisshu's eyes had gone completely blank, as if he had been hypnotized or something. "Kisshu, are you okay?" Keiichiro asked.

"No," Kisshu said sadly. "As long as Ichigo's in a coma, I'm going to be FAR from 'okay'."

"The spaceship my computers detected landed about half an hour ago," Keiichiro commented.

"Keiichiro, we both know the kids can't fight," Sakura said. "Any other suggestions?"

"None," Keiichiro said grimly.

"I don't WANT to fight," Kisshu said gloomily.

Keiichiro and Sakura looked at each other; this was getting serious. "Keiichiro, go see how Pai's doing," Sakura said. "He's in the room diagonally across the hall."

Keiichiro left, and Sakura pulled Kisshu into her arms again. This time he hugged back, and buried his face in her shoulder again. Then he started crying again.

Keiichiro came back with Pai, who said in response to Sakura's startled look, "I'm feeling better, but I don't think I'm completely back to full strength. What's the problem?"

"Kisshu doesn't want to fight," Sakura said. "I think it's because Ichigo's in a coma."

Pai came over and put his hand on Ichigo's forehead, then sighed. "He's right, she is in a coma," he said. "Sakura, I'm kind of surprised you're not very upset."

Since Kisshu was asleep again, Sakura said softly, "I know it's not going to help if I start crying. I'm just as upset as Kisshu, but he needs me to stay strong, so that's what I'll do."

Pai put his hand on Kisshu's head, and closed his eyes. "I can heal the weakness he's got, but the depression isn't something I can heal, and even if I could, I'm not sure it would work," he said softly. "Usually hearing that he has to fight to protect others makes him forget other things, but not this time. We need to keep an eye on him; I wouldn't put it past him to try to kill himself."

"What are we going to do?" Keiichiro asked. "Kisshu's the strongest of us all, if he won't fight, we may not have much of a chance. And without Ichigo, the Mews are pretty much screwed. If Kisshu would fight, we'd have a chance, but as things are, I don't think we've got much of a chance. As far as I can tell from the computers, there's ten or more Cyniclons who came. Not an army, but enough to be going on with. The other Mews are pretty much recovered, and I imagine Taruto could probably fight too. Pai, what about you?"

"I can fight," Pai said. He put his hand on Kisshu's chest, and said, "He's almost back to full strength."

"That's still not doing us much good if he refuses to fight," Keiichiro said gloomily.

Suddenly the doorbell rang, and Sakura asked, "Who would that be?"

"I'll go see," Pai said, and ran out. A few minutes later, Sakura and Keiichiro heard him say, "Aren't you Ichigo's school friends?"

"Moe and Miwa are here?" Sakura asked. "Keiichiro, go tell them they can come in."

Keiichiro left, and came back five minutes later with Pai, Moe, and Miwa. Sakura looked up and asked, "You two aren't sick?"

"We didn't get the sickness for some reason," Miwa said. "But our families did. And they're starting to get better, so we decided to come see if all of you were okay."

Pai sighed. "Except for Ichigo, we're fine," he said. "The sickness was sent by our latest enemy, and for some reason it sent Ichigo into a coma."

"Ichigo's in a coma?" Moe asked, shocked.

"Yes, and we need to fight whoever's here off, so that's not good," Keiichiro sighed. "And Kisshu's refusing to fight."

"Why?" Miwa asked.

"He's depressed about Ichigo," Pai explained.

"We'll fix that," Moe said. "Wake him up."

Sakura sighed and shook Kisshu's shoulder. "Kisshu, wake up," she said softly.

"Do I have to?" Kisshu grumbled.

"Yes," Miwa said. "Otherwise we'll whack you."

Kisshu's eyes shot open, and he asked, "What are you two doing here?"

"We came to see how you were doing, but now we've got a new agenda," Moe said.

"Does it have something to do with waking up Ichigo?" Kisshu asked.

"No, it has to do with waking YOU up," Miwa said.

"I AM awake," Kisshu said gloomily.

"Your body's awake, but your mind isn't," Moe said. "If you were really awake, you'd be agreeing to fight, not sitting around moping."

"I can't fight without Ichigo," Kisshu said.

"Can you fight FOR Ichigo?" Miwa asked. "Moe and I are sad to hear that Ichigo's in a coma, but you don't see us moping, do you? We're going to fight too, so why can't you?"

"I don't want to leave Ichigo…." Kisshu said sadly.

Moe and Miwa looked at each other, nodded- and shoved Kisshu off the bed. "OW!" he shouted. "What was THAT for!?"

"Just because," Miwa said, snickering.

Kisshu jumped up and said, "You two are SO dead."

"Can that wait till after we get rid of whoever's here?" Keiichiro asked.

"Fine, but those two are going DOWN after the enemy does," Kisshu said, and walked out.

Moe and Miwa hi-fived each other. "That worked," they said in unison.

"You two are something else," Keiichiro said. "Um… were you serious when you said you were going to fight?"

"Yeah, you thought we were joking?" Miwa asked.

"Are you sure about this?" Pai asked.

"We do know how to fight," Moe said. "We're both really good at hand-to-hand fighting."

"Your parents are going to kill you…." Keiichiro said.

"Not if I get there first," Kisshu said, coming back into the room.

"Jeez, all we did was push you off the bed," Miwa said, giggling.

"That HURT," Kisshu said.

"But it worked," Miwa said cheerfully. "Come on, let's go kick peoples' asses."

Kisshu sighed. "Keiichiro, do you know where whoever it is is located?" he asked.

"My guess would be nearby the Café, but I don't have my laptop, so I'm not sure," Keiichiro said.

Pai closed his eyes, concentrating, and said, "There's a group in the park near the Café."

"Then let's go," Kisshu said. "Keiichiro, tell the other Mews. Pai, go get Taruto. I'll teleport the monsters to the park."

"Hai," Pai and Keiichiro said, and ran off.

"Be careful," Sakura said.

"We'll be fine," Kisshu said. He grabbed Moe and Miwa by the shoulders, and teleported to the park near the Café.

They landed in a secluded part of the park, and Kisshu concentrated, then pointed in the direction of the Café, and said, "Looks like they're going to the Café. Let's get ahead of them, we need to make sure that Keiichiro's equipment doesn't get destroyed." He took Moe and Miwa's shoulders again, and teleported.

They landed in front of the Café, and looked around. Moe looked over at the hedge out front, and said, "I think they're hiding behind the hedge."

Kisshu looked over, then called, "Come out!"

About eleven Cyniclons came out from behind the hedge, and the leader asked, "Why didn't you get sick?"

"I did, but it didn't last long," Kisshu said. "The only one who can't fight is Mew Ichigo. The rest of us are fine."

One of the Cyniclons tapped his leader on the shoulder, and said, "That means we made a mistake, right?"

"Shut up!" the other shouted in unison.

"Care to explain that?" Kisshu asked. "Was the original idea to knock the rest of Tokyo out, except for Ichigo?"

"Why only leave Ichigo?" Miwa asked.

"Two possibilities," Kisshu said without taking his eyes away from the leader. "One is that they want her in particular for something, and the other is that they wanted to see how well she fights without a team. I'm guessing the first possibility, which means they want or need Ichigo for some reason. I'm sure Hiro would be kind enough to explain why he had originally planned to leave only Ichigo able to fight- wouldn't he?"

"Perceptive as ever," Hiro said glumly. "I don't know how you do that, but you're right. We got sent by our leader to capture Mew Ichigo. He wanted to know more about the Mew Mews, and also find out how Deep Blue died. So he ordered the lot of us to create a sickness that would knock out all of Tokyo, and all of you except Mew Ichigo. He's going to kill us when we get back."

"You'll deserve it," Kisshu snarled. "You do know that whatever you did sent Ichigo into a coma, right?"

To his worry, Hiro perked up. "That worked, then," he said. "That was the idea. We only failed to keep the rest of you down!"

"And now you're going to pay with your lives," Kisshu said.

"You think you and two human girls can defeat all eleven of us?" Hiro asked incredulously.

"Eleven against three makes things interesting!" Moe said happily.

"You're insane, aren't you?" Hiro asked.

"And proud of it," Moe and Miwa said together.

Hiro groaned. Another Cyniclon said, "Hiro-san, they're just humans, how bad can it be?"

"VERY bad," Kisshu said. "Is there a way to wake Ichigo up?"

"I'll tell you on one condition," Hiro said.

"What is it?" Kisshu asked.

"The insane blonde girl has to beat me in hand-to-hand combat," Hiro said. "No interference from you, my teammates, or the other insane human girl."

"Bring it on," Moe said before Kisshu could reply.

Kisshu facepalmed and said, "Fine, I know it's pointless to stop you. If you get killed, however, I will bring you back from the dead and kill you again, got that?"

"As if you could," Moe said. She looked at Hiro and said, "Let's go."

**I'll get more out hopefully tomorrow! Review!**


	22. Moe's Fight

**Depression Chapter 22:**

**Moe's Fight**

"Why does Moe get all the fun?" Miwa moaned.

"You could take down the guy who said we were only human," Moe said.

"Okay," Miwa said. She walked over to the guy, and grabbed his arm. "Come on, let's go," she said.

"Uh… where are we going?" he asked as Miwa dragged him off.

"The park, so Moe and Hiro can fight undisturbed while I beat you up," Miwa said.

"If I win the fight you're starting, can I get a prize?" the guy asked.

"What kind of prize?" Miwa asked.

"A kiss?" the guy asked.

"Fine, since you're going to lose anyways," Miwa said. "Come on, let's go." She dragged him off.

"Seriously, did you have to?" Hiro asked.

"You haven't seen Miwa bored," Moe said. "It's better to give her something to do while I'm fighting you. Are we starting now?"

Hiro lunged at Moe, who dodged, and kicked him in the side. He spun and tried to grab her leg, but she leaped back, then lunged forward. Hiro dodged, but Moe spun and punched him in the shoulder. "Seriously, is that all you've got?" Moe asked. "I was hoping for more of a challenge. I thought you could fly. Maybe that would make things more challenging."

Kisshu facepalmed as Hiro flew up, then dived. Moe stayed put, looking up at Hiro, and then dodged right before he hit her, forcing him to teleport before he hit the ground face-first. He teleported behind Moe, then reached out to grab her. Moe had other ideas, and spun, then grabbed Hiro's arm and threw him on the ground. His teammates winced.

_**Meanwhile, with Miwa: **_The guy she was fighting was getting frustrated. He hadn't been able to land a single punch on her, and she was snickering at him. "Why do you have to laugh at me!?" he yelled.

"Because I'm better than you and you're the one with the abilities to fly and teleport," Miwa giggled. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Toshiro," the guy said. "What's yours?"

"Miwa," Miwa said.

Suddenly they both heard teleportation, but while it distracted Toshiro, it didn't distract Miwa, who just said, "Whoever's here better not interfere, or they can get taken down too."

"Where are Kisshu and Moe?" Pai asked.

"The Café," Miwa said, as she lunged at Toshiro. "Don't bug Moe, she'll take you down. She's fighting Hiro, the leader of the group. He says he'll tell us how to wake Ichigo up if Moe beats him in hand-to-hand combat. I dragged Toshiro here because he asked how bad we could possibly be. Now I get to beat him up!" She punched Toshiro in the face, and he cried out. "That's what you get for not paying attention," Miwa said. "Are you going to pay attention now?"

"Yes…." Toshiro grumbled. "Are you actually human?"

"To my knowledge," Miwa said. Then she called, "The rest of you can go away now."

"Uh…. okay…." Pai said. "What are you going to do if you lose?"

"According to Toshiro? I have to kiss him," Miwa said. "I'm not going to lose, but maybe he'll get a kiss anways. If he's not unconscious, that is."

"I think we'll be going now…." Pai said as Miwa sidestepped another attempt from Toshiro to grab her.

"You do that," Miwa said as she slammed the side of her hand into the back of Toshiro's head. This succeeded in knocking him out, and Miwa said, "That wasn't too hard…"

Pai just shook his head and teleported off with the Mews and Taruto.

_**Back with Kisshu, Hiro, and Moe: **_"You still haven't landed a punch on me," Moe commented as Hiro teleported behind her and she slammed her elbow into his eye.

"That HURT!" Hiro shouted.

"That was the idea," Moe snickered. "Seriously, you should give it up and tell us how to wake Ichigo up. You're getting nowhere fighting me. And I bet Miwa already creamed her opponent."

"So why haven't you knocked me out?" Hiro asked disgruntledly.

"Unconscious people can't talk," Moe said.

"You do know that I can easily wake him up, right?" Kisshu called.

"Oh, okay," Moe said. Then she got behind Hiro and slammed the side of her hand into the back of his neck, knocking him out. Then she caught him and put him down.

Suddenly they all heard teleportation, and Pai and Taruto teleported in with the Mews. "Miwa creamed Toshiro," Pai said. "It looks like Moe did the same with Hiro."

"Yup," Moe said proudly, dusting off her hands.

The other Cyniclons looked nervous, and one guy said, "Are all humans like this?"

"No, it's just Moe and Miwa," Pai said dryly. "They're special. Now are you going to tell us how to wake up Ichigo?"

"There's an antidote on the ship," one guy said. "But Hiro's the one with the code."

Kisshu sighed and came over, then tapped Hiro on the forehead. He slowly opened his eyes, and asked, "What hit me?"

"Moe hit you," Kisshu said. "Are you going to wake Ichigo up now?"

"You do realize I'll get killed for this, right?" Hiro asked.

"That's nice," Kisshu said. "If you weren't the only one who could wake Ichigo up, you'd already be dead."

"Point taken, I'll be back with the antidote soon," Hiro said. "Where are Toshiro and the insane brown-haired girl?"

"My guess is still in the park," Pai said. "Kisshu, Moe, go check on them, we'll wait here for Hiro to come back, and keep an eye on these others."

Kisshu sighed and grabbed Moe's shoulder, then teleported to the park. They looked around for Miwa- and their jaws dropped.

Miwa and Toshiro were standing a few yards away, and they were _kissing. _Miwa had her arms twined around Toshiro's neck, and Toshiro's arms were around Miwa's waist. As Kisshu and Moe watched, the two broke off the kiss and smiled at each other.

Moe cleared her throat, and Miwa and Toshiro jumped, then turned, turning bright red when they saw Moe and Kisshu. Kisshu sighed and asked, "Should we be leaving you two alone, or do you want to come back?"

"Um… we'll come back," Toshiro said. "You were watching us?"

"Yup," Moe said. "Pai sent us to come find you, and we did."

"Did Hiro tell you how to wake up Ichigo?" Miwa asked.

"Apparently he's got some kind of serum that will wake her up," Kisshu said. "Let's go."

Toshiro took Miwa's hand and teleported, followed by Kisshu with Moe. They landed in front of Café Mew Mew, and Hiro teleported in at the same time. He was carrying a small bottle of green liquid, and he handed it to Pai, saying, "This will bring Mew Ichigo out of the coma. As for the rest of Tokyo, the sickness we created will wear off soon." Pai nodded and teleported off as Hiro continued, "I guess we'll get going."

"Toshiro's staying," Kisshu said.

"What? Why?" Hiro asked.

"He and Miwa were kissing," Kisshu said. "You know what that means, right?"

Hiro sighed. "Yes, I do," he said resignedly. "But where is he going to stay?"

"We'll work it out with Keiichiro," Kisshu said. "He has two spare rooms in this Café, since my brothers and I are living with Ichigo."

"I'm confused," Miwa said. "I'd love to have Toshiro live here, but why does he 'have' to?"

"Two reasons," Kisshu said. "One is that he'd probably get exiled anyways, but the other is more complicated. Cyniclons have the ability to find the right person; it's like an instinct. We immediately know that person is the only one for us, and they know it too. And we bond to the person we find. Pai and I discovered, however, that bonding with another species makes the bond twice as strong. People who are bonded can't be separated for long periods of time, and in my case, even short periods of time. If Toshiro were to go back to Cyniclonia without you, chances are he'd commit suicide by the end of the week after he arrived. We won't be able to live without the person we're bonded to. And I imagine you'll eventually start feeling the bond too, because human or not, you did bond with a Cyniclon. Toshiro obviously felt it from the start; otherwise he wouldn't have asked you to kiss him when you dragged him off. Kissing is how a bond is sealed. That's why I kissed Ichigo the first time we met."

"Wow…" Miwa said.

Kisshu turned to Toshiro and said, "You realize it's not going to be as easy as it is for me, since you can't live with her family, right?"

"I know, I'll manage," Toshiro said.

Kisshu nodded, and said, "Let's go talk with Keiichiro, he needs to know this."

Toshiro nodded, and looked at Hiro. "Hiro, tell my family," he said.

"I will," Hiro said. "Good luck, Toshiro."

"Thanks," Toshiro said. Hiro nodded to the others, and they all teleported off. Kisshu turned to the Mews and Taruto, and said, "We'll work this out, so you all are free to go."

Zakuro nodded to the others, and they left. "Toshiro, I'll give you the image of where we're going," Kisshu said.

Toshiro came over, and Kisshu put a hand on his forehead for a minute, until Toshiro said, "I see it."

"Good, let's go," Kisshu said. He took Moe's shoulder, and followed by Toshiro with Miwa, teleported to Ichigo's room.

**Short, but this is interesting, right? Review!**


	23. Arrangements

**Depression Chapter 23:**

**Arrangements**

Kisshu and Toshiro appeared in the living room, and let Moe and Miwa go. Or rather, Kisshu let Moe go. Miwa and Toshiro were holding hands.

They heard running footsteps on the stairs, and Keiichiro and Pai came downstairs. They looked startled when they saw Toshiro, and Pai said, "Kisshu, would you care to explain?"

"Toshiro and Miwa are bonded," Kisshu said. "He kissed her."

Pai looked shocked, while Keiichiro looked confused. "Bonded?" he asked.

"Pai, you didn't tell him about that?" Kisshu asked, surprised. "And how's Ichigo?"

"Ichigo will be fine with some rest, she went back to sleep a while ago," Pai said. "And I didn't really think it mattered, so no, I didn't tell Keiichiro about bonding." He turned to Keiichiro and said, "Cyniclons know when we've found the right person for us. It's sort of like an instinct, and the other person feels it too. We are then bonded to each other, and the bond is sealed by kissing. Kisshu and I discovered that bonds with other species are much stronger than bonds between two Cyniclons. If Toshiro already kissed Miwa, he's now unable to leave Earth. If he did so, he would most likely commit suicide within a week's time. And Miwa would at the very least become severely depressed, if not commit suicide herself. And before you ask, there is no way to break a bond, so Toshiro's staying."

Keiichiro sighed. "Fine…. I suppose I'm also signing him up for school and getting human clothes?" he asked.

"Hai, and make sure he's in all Miwa's classes, since she and the others will need to teach him about human life," Pai said. "I will go make more of the ear-changing pills, we're going to need more soon anyways."

"Good," Keiichiro said. "I suppose you need my lab?"

"Yes please," Pai said. "I'll teleport you back, if you want."

"Thanks," Keiichiro said.

Pai nodded and said, "Kisshu, you get to explain things to Toshiro, since he'll be in your class at school." Then he teleported off with Keiichiro.

Toshiro looked at Kisshu, and asked, "Do I have to wear human clothes?"

"Yes, because otherwise people might figure out your identity, and you'll get arrested," Kisshu said. "Besides, except for the shoes, I think human clothing is pretty comfortable. And you only have to wear the human shoes at school."

"No flying or teleporting either, right?" Toshiro said.

"You'll get used to it," Kisshu said. "And we'll all help you- right Miwa and Moe?"

"Yup!" the girls said together. "Ichigo and Yoki will help too."

"Who's Yoki?" Toshiro asked.

"My cousin," Miwa said. "He knows about the Mews and Cyniclons, and he'll never tell, so we can talk about it at lunch."

"Won't other kids overhear us?" Toshiro asked.

"No, we have to eat away from the others because Kisshu's severely allergic to bananas, and everyone brings them," Miwa said. "Not that we mind; if we ate with the others, Kisshu would get swarmed by the idiotic girls at our school."

"Jeez Kisshu, it's happening here too?" Toshiro asked.

"Yup," Kisshu said gloomily. "I seem to be a girl magnet no matter WHERE I go."

"This happened on your planet too?" Moe asked.

"Yeah, but at least the girls there didn't have the sappy love note problem," Kisshu said. "But they swarmed me all the time, and it's a damn good thing we don't have bananas on our planet, because most of the girls eventually found me, no matter where I was hiding for lunch. And unlike here, I had no friends, much less friends who would beat the idiots up for me."

"Anyone who hurts our friends goes down in flames," Miwa said. "It's fun beating idiots up."

"Can I help?" Toshiro asked.

"We have to ask the principal, but he'll most likely say yes," Moe said. "He lets us have free rein- on one stupid condition. We can't kill anyone, no matter what they do. We can beat them to a pulp, however."

"And unfortunately, there's a no-weapons rule at the school," Kisshu said. "Too bad, but oh well."

"So basically, I can't use any of my powers anymore?" Toshiro asked.

"Not at school, anyways," Kisshu said. "You'll get used to it, trust me. Oh, and Ichigo and I can use telepathy, so we can help you that way, too."

"Ichigo can use telepathy?" Toshiro asked.

"Yeah," Kisshu said. "It's fun. Oh, and we can't talk about our identities or abilities anywhere near other humans."

"K," Toshiro said.

They heard footsteps on the stairs, and turned to see Sakura. "Who's this?" she asked.

"I'm Toshiro," Toshiro said.

"Hi, I'm Sakura," Sakura said. "Kisshu, Ichigo just woke up, do you want to go see her?"

"On my way," Kisshu said. "Miwa, you can explain the rest." He ran up the stairs, and to Ichigo's room.

Ichigo was sitting up, and she looked up as Kisshu came in. "How are you feeling?" he asked her.

"I still can't stand up, but other than that I feel fine," Ichigo said. "My stomach's fine too. Pai says I need to take it easy."

Kisshu sat down with her, and hugged her, burying his face in her shoulder. She hugged back, feeling his shoulders shaking. "I'm fine," she said softly. "You don't have to worry anymore."

Kisshu pulled back a bit, looking at her, tears still running down his face. "Really?" he whispered.

Ichigo smiled. "Really," she said. "Aside from the fact I can't walk yet, anyways."

Kisshu sighed, and said, "I was really scared. I don't know what I would do if you died."

"Judging by the fact we're bonded, I'd guess you'd commit suicide," Ichigo said. "Which is what I would do if you died."

Kisshu looked startled, and asked, "You knew we were bonded?"

"I can feel it too," Ichigo said. "Isn't that how it's supposed to work? Both of us can feel it?"

"Yeah," Kisshu said.

"I heard someone downstairs with a voice I don't recognize," Ichigo commented. "Is someone else here?"

"Miwa bonded with one of the guys who came, so I brought him back here," Kisshu said. "He'll be living with Keiichiro, though."

"Miwa bonded with a Cyniclon?" Ichigo asked.

"I know, it's really unusual," Kisshu said. "But now Miwa and Toshiro are bonded, and there's nothing we can do about it, since bonds can't be broken."

"Miwa must be happy about this," Ichigo said.

"Judging by the look on her face when they stopped kissing, I'd say you're right," Kisshu said.

"How'd this happen, anyways?" Ichigo asked.

"Miwa dragged him off for suggesting that since she and Moe are human, their fighting skills can't be that great, and I guess things spiraled off from there," Kisshu said. "And Moe creamed the leader of the group. Hiro said he'd wake you up if Moe beat him, and you know what she said?"

"'Bring it on', right?" Ichigo asked. "That's what she always says."

"Yup," Kisshu said. "Those two are something else."

"Glad you think so," Moe said from behind them. "Miwa sent me to ask if you want to meet her new boyfriend, Ichigo."

"Sure," Ichigo said. "I hope you guys don't mind that I can't stand up yet, though."

"It's fine," Moe said. "I'll get them."

She left, and came back a minute later with Miwa and Toshiro. "Hi," Ichigo said. Then she smirked and said, "So Miwa, I was right, huh?"

"About what?" Miwa asked.

"The fact that your boyfriend would be FAR from ordinary," Ichigo said. "I'm glad you found someone, though."

"Yeah, considering the boys at school are a bunch of no-good low-lifes, I thought I'd probably NEVER find someone," Miwa said.

"Well, I didn't find Kisshu at school," Ichigo said.

"No, I found you," Kisshu said.

"True that," Ichigo said. "Thinking back, that was pretty cute."

"What was?" Toshiro asked.

"When we first met, Kisshu jumped off a building, kissed me, then said, "My name is Kisshu, thanks for the kiss," Ichigo said, giggling. "At the time, I just thought it was annoying, but looking back, it was pretty cute."

"I didn't know that," Moe said. "That is pretty cute."

"Kishy's cute, period," Ichigo said.

Kisshu blushed slightly, and Toshiro said, "I've never seen you blush, Kisshu."

Kisshu got a little redder and said, "I never blushed before I met Ichigo. And I like the nickname she made up for me."

"'Kishy'?" Toshiro asked.

"Kishy calls me 'Koneko-chan'," Ichigo said happily.

"You two are such a cute couple," Miwa said.

"Thanks," Ichigo said, smiling. Then she yawned.

Kisshu noticed and said, "Koneko-chan, you should get some more rest. I'll stay with you, k?"

"K," Ichigo said sleepily. Kisshu looked at the others, who got the hint, and left after Miwa said, "Hope you feel better soon, Ichigo."

"Thanks," Ichigo said. She settled back against the pillows, and Kisshu climbed onto the bed with her. He started stroking her hair as she fell asleep, and smiled as she purred.

**Well, my latest OC is Miwa's boyfriend. I'll try to have more out soon; till then, plz review!**


	24. What Happened?

**Depression Chapter 24:**

**What Happened?**

Ichigo woke up a while later to find Kisshu curled up next to her, sound asleep. _That's so cute… _she thought. She sat up, and realized her legs were feeling stronger. She decided not to get up yet, and started stroking Kisshu's hair. He sighed happily, leaning into her hand.

Sakura came in a few minutes later, and asked softly, "How are you feeling?"

"A little stronger," Ichigo said softly. "I didn't want to disturb Kishy, so I didn't try getting up yet."

"I was watching the news, and it looks like most people are pretty much over the sickness," Sakura said. "Your school is reopening on Monday."

"Good, I'll have more time to recover," Ichigo said. "It's Thursday, right?"

"Yeah," Sakura said. "Is Kisshu okay?"

Ichigo put a hand on his forehead, and said, "I think he's just tired. And my purring probably put him to sleep."

Kisshu stirred a bit, and Ichigo started stroking his hair again. He sighed happily and relaxed. "That's cute," Sakura said softly. "I'm going to go make dinner, I'll let you know when it's done so you can either eat up here or come down."

"Thanks, Mom," Ichigo said, and went back to stroking Kisshu's hair as Sakura left.

About half an hour later, Kisshu was stirring, and Sakura came in, and asked, "Are you feeling up to coming downstairs?"

"I think so," Ichigo said. "I'll wake Kishy up." She gently shook Kisshu's shoulder, and said, "Kishy, dinnertime."

Kisshu yawned and opened his eyes. Ichigo giggled and said, "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah," Kisshu said, sitting up. "Did you say something about dinner?"

"Yep, Mom says whatever we're having is ready," Ichigo said. "My legs feel stronger, can I try getting up?"

"Let me get up first, I don't want you to fall," Kisshu said. He got off the bed, and Ichigo pushed the blankets back, then put her feet on the floor and stood up. Kisshu noticed she was kind of shaky still, and said, "If you want to go downstairs, I'm teleporting us. I think it's too soon for you to be walking; you're still shaky."

Ichigo sighed. "I don't like this…." she said.

"Look on the bright side, it won't take you two weeks to recover like it did for me when I stopped breathing," Kisshu said. He took her hand and teleported down to the kitchen.

Sakura looked up, hearing the teleportation, and asked, "No stairs?"

"Ichigo's too shaky," Kisshu said. "I told her if she wanted to go downstairs, I'd teleport her. Are Pai and Taruto coming?"

"No, Pai's working on the pills and Taruto's sleeping over at Pudding's," Sakura said. "It's just the three of us. We're having ravioli."

"What's that?" Kisshu asked.

"It's pasta stuffed with cheese," Sakura said. "It's not like noodles, if that's why you're making that face."

"Fine…" Kisshu said. "I'll try it."

"There's tomato sauce to go with it," Sakura said. She started dishing some out for all of them, and sat down when she was done.

"Yay, no salad!" Ichigo said happily as she bit into a ravioli.

"I've given up hope," Sakura sighed.

"At long last," Kisshu said. He tried the ravioli, and said, "I guess this isn't awful, but I don't really like it. The lack of salad is a plus, though."

"What don't you like about it?" Sakura asked.

"It's just weird," Kisshu said. "I'm not having seconds this time."

"That's fine, seconds aren't a necessity," Sakura said. "Why do you hate salad so much?"

"It's poisonous," Kisshu said. "Do you know where the name 'salad' comes from?"

"No," Sakura said.

"The first salads were actually made of salamander's skin, which had been pounded into a form of food," Kisshu said. "You humans get the name 'salad' from the 'sala' in 'salamander'."

"Where did you come up with that idea?" Sakura asked.

"I was looking through Pai's notes, and came across a section on ancient human foods," Kisshu said. "Where he found it is beyond me, but it might have something to do with his fascination with ancient history. Primitive humans probably didn't pound the skins, though. I think they just shoved the salamanders in their mouths."

"Eww…." Ichigo said. "Can we stop talking about salamanders? My stomach's not feeling good."

"Do you want me to take you back upstairs?" Kisshu asked.

"Let's walk, because teleporting's going to make me feel worse," Ichigo said. She got up, and Kisshu did the same, noticing Sakura was glaring at him.

"Yell at me later," he told her, and helped Ichigo walk back upstairs. He noticed Ichigo was getting steadier, and by the time they reached the top of the stairs, he let her go.

Good timing too. Ichigo felt her stomach lurch, and ran into the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet before she threw up. Kisshu came in and started rubbing her back as she got everything out.

A while later, she stopped, and Kisshu said, "I'm sorry I made you sick."

"It's not your fault," Ichigo said. "I shouldn't have kept thinking about it. I got this image of someone stuffing a live salamander into their mouth, and then I got sick."

"Yuck…." Kisshu said. "Now I'm not feeling good…. That's pretty disgusting; no wonder you threw up."

"Sorry," Ichigo said. "Um… you're turning green, you should come over here. I think I made you sick too." She got up and moved back as Kisshu came over. About a minute later he started feeling sick, and clutched his stomach as he threw up into the toilet. Ichigo started rubbing his back gently as he threw up. When he stopped, she asked, "Is your stomach any better?"

"Sort of, but now I think that image just got burned into my memory," Kisshu said gloomily. "Let's not mention salamanders EVER again."

"Good plan," Ichigo said. "And let's not tell my mom about that, either."

"What aren't you going to tell me?" Sakura asked from the doorway.

"The image that Ichigo got from me talking about salad," Kisshu said. "You'll get sick too, so let's just leave it as 'very disgusting'."

"No more salad, either," Ichigo said. "I don't think I'm going to be able to eat it without throwing up anymore."

"You refused to eat it anyways, that shouldn't be hard," Sakura said dryly. "And Kisshu, the next time you don't like what I make, please don't go through Pai's notes to figure out if it's poisonous."

"Don't worry about me, I don't want to get sick again," Kisshu said.

Sakura sighed and asked, "Are your stomachs any better?"

"Mine's better, but I'm tired out," Ichigo said. "Kishy?"

"Not really, I hope I'm not getting sick again," Kisshu said.

Ichigo felt his forehead and said, "You don't seem to have a fever; maybe you just have an upset stomach for some reason."

"Maybe it's the ravioli…" Kisshu said. "Uh-oh, I think I'm gonna-" he didn't finish the sentence; he had to turn around fast, right before he threw up again. Luckily he made it to the toilet. He felt Ichigo rubbing his back as he threw up.

Sometime later, he stopped throwing up, and turned back to Ichigo. She looked worried, and said, "Kishy, I need to go back to sleep; do you want to bring a bucket into our room? I don't mind; just lying down will help me right now. I can't stay upright much longer."

"K," Kisshu said. He stood up and picked her up, then went to their room and set her on the bed. Then he went back to the bathroom, flushed the toilet, and grabbed the bucket under the sink, taking it back to Ichigo's room. She looked at him sleepily, and said, "You can still sleep with me."

"If I'm actually sick, it's not a good idea," Kisshu said. "I don't mind sleeping on the floor; do you have a sleeping bag?"

"Yeah, it's in the closet," Ichigo said. "Here's your pillow, too." She handed him a pillow, and he put it on the floor, then grabbed her sleeping bag, and unrolled it.

As he was settling down, Sakura came in and said, "I told Pai that you have an upset stomach, but I guess he can't come till tomorrow morning. Can you manage till then?"

"I think so," Kisshu said. "So far it's just stomach problems, and I brought a bucket in here."

Sakura came over and felt his forehead, then said, "Good, no fever. Both of you should rest, Pai will be here tomorrow."

"K," Ichigo said sleepily. Kisshu nodded; he was feeling sick again. He put the bucket on his lap, and threw up into it. When he was done, he put the bucket aside, and settled down to sleep.

_**Around 2 AM, however: **_Kisshu woke up suddenly, clutching his stomach, which felt like it was on fire. _I don't think I've ever felt worse- even when I ate that banana, _he thought. Suddenly through the pain he felt his stomach lurch, and quickly grabbed the bucket, putting it back on his lap. The minute he opened his mouth, he threw up so much at once he couldn't breathe. Every time he tried to take a breath, he nearly choked as he felt more stuff coming. And breathing through his nose wasn't really helping. _Somehow I don't think talking about salamanders is the cause of this; but what is? _Kisshu wondered, as he finally managed to take a breath, gasping for air. The burning feeling in his stomach was gone, but the sick feeling wasn't.

Looking over at Ichigo, he noticed she was still asleep. _I hope she's okay; I don't think I could have slept through that, _Kisshu thought. _But then again, she's the deepest sleeper I've ever met, so maybe that's why. Or she's just exhausted from being up for so long. _Sighing, Kisshu put the bucket aside, settled down, and tried to go back to sleep.

He got another four hours of sleep before his stomach started feeling awful again. At around six, he forced his eyes open because he was feeling sick, and sat up, grabbing the bucket. To his dismay, it was nearly full. He got up and quietly went to the bathroom, trying to hold it. He managed to reach the toilet, but like before, he threw up so much that he was having trouble getting enough air. He finally managed to stop throwing up, and emptied the bucket into the toilet, flushing everything down.

Kisshu went back to Ichigo's room after washing his mouth out, and settled back down.

A few hours later, he was woken up by someone tapping his forehead, and he opened his eyes to see Pai kneeling next to him. "Kisshu, I healed the stomach bug you had, but you need to rest today, and you can't eat till dinner tomorrow," he said. "You can have water if you're thirsty, but no food. It'll make you sick again. I'm not exactly sure what caused you to get this, but you should be fine with some rest. How's your throat?"

"It's kind of sore," Kisshu said. To his surprise, his voice was a whisper.

"Looks like you have laryngitis," Pai said. "I'll heal that too, k?"

"Thanks," Kisshu whispered.

Pai put his hand on Kisshu's throat, and his hand began to glow. Kisshu started to feel sleepy, and Pai took his hand away a minute later. "Try talking," he told Kisshu.

"K," Kisshu said. His voice had gone back to normal, and he said, "I'm sleepy, can I go back to sleep?"

"I think you should get back in bed; sleeping on the floor isn't the best thing for you," Pai said. He picked Kisshu up, and tucked him into the bed he shared with Ichigo. "Where's Ichigo?" Kisshu asked.

"She's taking a shower, I'll let her know that you need to sleep, so she'll be here," Pai said.

"Thanks," Kisshu said. He settled back against the pillows, and tried to go to sleep. After about five minutes of being totally exhausted, but unable to fall asleep, he thought, _I guess I really can't sleep without Ichigo nearby._

Suddenly he started to relax, and heard Ichigo say softly, "Kishy, go to sleep, I'll be right here."

"Thanks…." Kisshu said softly, before he fell asleep.

Kisshu slept through the rest of the day, and woke up briefly as Ichigo climbed in with him for the night. He fell back to sleep soon after, and slept through the night.

He woke up at six the next evening, and opened his eyes to see Ichigo looking down at him. "Kishy, are you feeling any better?" she asked. "You've been sleeping for nearly two days."

"_WHAT!?" _Kisshu nearly shouted. He sat bolt upright, startling Ichigo. "How is that possible?" he asked shakily. "I've never slept that long in my life."

"I don't know," Ichigo said. "You've been really out of it; you didn't even notice when I left a few times. I guess whatever that stomach thing was must have really taken it out of you. How are you feeling?"

Kisshu calmed down a bit, and realized he was feeling fine. "I feel fine," he said. "Can I get up?"

"Let me ask Pai, I was supposed to tell him when you woke up anyways," Ichigo said. She concentrated briefly, then said, "He's on his way."

Pai came in a minute later, and asked, "Kisshu, how are you feeling?"

"I feel fine," Kisshu said. "Can I get up?"

Pai put his hand on Kisshu's chest, and said, "Yeah, you're all set. We were about to have dinner, you can come down. Are you hungry?"

"Starving," Kisshu said. He got up and asked, "What are we having?"

"Miso soup and teriyaki chicken," Pai said.

"K," Kisshu said. "Let's go."

**Question: I'm thinking of having Hiro return. Should I do it before or after Toshiro's first day of school? Review and tell me!**


	25. Hiro's Return

**Depression Chapter 25:**

**Hiro's Return**

The next day was the second to last before school started up again, and Kisshu and Ichigo were planning on spending a peaceful day in Inohara Park.

No such luck. Ten minutes after they got there, Ichigo's cell phone rang, and seeing it was Keiichiro, she sighed and asked, "What happened now?"

"_Come to the Café, we're having another meeting, and call Moe," _Keiichiro said. _"Miwa's already here."_

Ichigo groaned and said, "Fine, we'll be right there." She hung up and said to Kisshu, "There goes our peaceful day at the park. I'd better call Moe." She scrolled through her contacts, and pressed Send at Moe's number.

Two rings later, she heard, _"Ichigo?"_

"You're apparently needed at the Café, Miwa's already there, and I'm on my way," Ichigo said.

"_I'll be there soon," _Moe said, and hung up.

Kisshu sighed and took Ichigo's hand, then teleported to Café Mew Mew.

They landed in the main room, and were startled to see Hiro standing there. "What's HE doing back, Keiichiro?" Kisshu asked.

"We're waiting for Moe, and then I'll explain," Keiichiro said.

"Let me guess, Hiro realized he's supposed to be with Moe, right?" Kisshu sighed. "Why'd we have to come? Ichigo and I were going to have a nice, peaceful day at the park."

"How did you know that?" Keiichiro asked.

"Kisshu's just like that," Hiro said gloomily. "It's as if he knows what the person's going to say. Which is weird, because he's not a psychic."

"I'm just perceptive," Kisshu said. "I wouldn't want to be a psychic, it sounds annoying. Hearing other people's thoughts would drive me nuts. I prefer concentrating if I want to listen to other's thoughts."

"So you can eavesdrop on people's thoughts?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah, it's an ability we all have," Kisshu said. "Psychics are different, though. They hear everything, whether they want to or not. I'd hate that. And some of them can be overly open about it. I'd rather not hear about how someone's mother decided to commit suicide over her son's death, but psychics NEVER shut up."

"You're just prejudiced because Kino told the school that you cried yourself to sleep after your parents died," Pai said. "Not ALL psychics are like that."

"Kino was EVIL," Kisshu grumbled. "Do you have any idea what it's like to be teased for everything from your hair to your lack of parents? The only reason I didn't get attacked by the bullies is because the lot of them knew I was better than the fighting instructors."

"The girls didn't tease you," Taruto commented.

"No, they were too busy hunting me down to tease me," Kisshu said dryly.

"You were better than the fighting instructors?" Miwa asked. "How old were you?"

"Eight," Kisshu said. "At age ten they decided I should fight the strongest of all our warriors, to test my skills."

"And?" Keiichiro asked.

"I creamed him," Kisshu said. "The only reason I fought badly here is because I was bonded to Ichigo, and couldn't kill her. If I hadn't bonded to her, all the Mews would have been dead before you got Zakuro on board. I probably would have left Pudding alive, though. Our laws about killing children are pretty strict, and despite the fact she was an enemy, she's still a nine-year-old."

"What about Taruto?" Miwa asked.

"Taruto snuck onto Pai's ship when he left, because he decided it would be boring without me and Pai around," Kisshu said. "But Taruto can actually fight, so Pai let him stay."

"Wow…" the others said.

Suddenly Moe ran in, and said, "Sorry I'm late."

"It's fine," Keiichiro said. "I've got a question for you. Have you been feeling any different lately?"

"Different?" Moe asked.

"Your mood," Keiichiro said.

"I've been a bit down lately, but I'm not exactly sure why," Moe said.

"Thought so," Keiichiro said. "Hiro came back to Earth saying the same. He's pretty sure that you and he are supposed to bond, because he's been feeling sad since he left you."

"So the reason I'm feeling sad is because Hiro's been gone?" Moe asked.

"That's what I think," Hiro said. "I started feeling sad on the way back, and after letting the others off the ship, and telling them they had to tell Toshiro's family and mine that we were going to live on Earth, I turned around and came back. When did you start feeling sad?"

"After I went home," Moe said. "I noticed it after Miwa and I parted ways, since we live on the same street, but once I was alone, I started feeling kind of sad."

"Keiichiro's offered to let me live here, and go to your school," Hiro said. "He says Toshiro and Kisshu are going there too, and I'd be in your class."

"Okay!" Moe said cheerfully. "I like having more people to hang out with!"

"Same here," Ichigo said. "It's been you, me and Miwa for so long, it'll be nice to have more friends. Especially since you two finally got boyfriends!"

"Yeah, this will be nice," Miwa said. Then she snickered and said, "I wonder if the girls at school will die of shock? That would be funny to watch."

"Why would they die of shock because you have a boyfriend?" Toshiro asked.

"The whole school knows Moe and Miwa hate boys," Ichigo said. "What they don't realize is that it's just boys who are jerks. Unfortunately, except for Kisshu and Yoki, every boy in the school is a complete jerk- and they're all terrified of Moe and Miwa."

"So you fight at school?" Hiro asked.

"Yup, and the principal gives us free rein as long as we don't kill people," Moe said. "It's a shame some of the girls can't die, but oh well. We can't have everything."

"Hiro, you can't use any of your powers at school," Kisshu said. "And it can be tempting, believe me."

"Aww…" Hiro said. "No weapons if I get attacked?"

"We manage," Moe said. "You'll be fine, don't worry."

Hiro smiled. "Thanks, Moe," he said.

"Now that that's settled, can Ichigo and I go?" Kisshu asked.

Keiichiro sighed. "Yes, you all can go. Have a nice day."

"Mmph," Kisshu said, and teleported Ichigo back to the park. "That was a waste of time," he grumbled. "Why did WE have to go?"

"Beats me," Ichigo sighed. "It's cool that Moe and Miwa have boyfriends, though."

"Yeah, we should have guessed their boyfriends wouldn't be human," Kisshu said.

"I always knew whoever they each found would be highly unusual," Ichigo said. "But I didn't expect them both to bond with Cyniclons."

"Same here," Kisshu said. "I wonder what school's going to be like?"

"I guess we'll find out tomorrow," Ichigo said.

_**The next morning: **_Hiro and Toshiro teleported into the living room as Ichigo and Kisshu were finishing breakfast. "Morning," Ichigo said. "Oh good, you remembered the pills."

"Yup," Hiro said. "I suppose we have to walk to school?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Kisshu said.

Ichigo looked at Hiro and Toshiro, and said, "More girl problems on the way."

"So I'm not going to be the only one?" Kisshu asked.

"I'd say so," Ichigo said.

Hiro and Toshiro were both wearing the school uniform, but they still looked pretty different. Hiro's dark blue hair was pulled back into a short ponytail, with his bangs falling over his black eyes. Toshiro's brown hair was styled like Pai's, but he didn't have bangs, so his blue eyes were more visible.

"You mean we're going to get swarmed?" Hiro asked.

"Most likely," Ichigo said. "Don't worry, we'll protect you. And the only thing you can't do is use your powers. Beating people up is fine, though."

"Koneko-chan, we should get going," Kisshu said. "We're going to be late if we don't."

Ichigo jumped up, and ran to get her shoes. Kisshu followed, chuckling a bit. Soon they were out the door, and followed by Hiro and Toshiro, walking to school.

Moe and Miwa were waiting at the gates, like usual, and Moe called out, "Hi guys!"

"Hi," Ichigo said, coming up to them. "We'd better take your boyfriends to the office."

"Why? Are we in trouble?" Toshiro asked.

"No, it's just to let the principal know you're here," Miwa said.

"Okay," Toshiro said. "Ichigo thinks we're going to have girl problems."

"She's right, but we don't mind taking people down," Miwa said. "We usually have them screaming for mercy about two minutes after the first punch. It's FUN."

Hiro sighed as they went to the office. "What's wrong?" Moe asked.

"I don't like the idea of getting swarmed," Hiro said.

"We'll help you," Moe said.

They reached the office, and saw the principal waiting for them. "I just wanted to talk with you six," he said. "Let's go to my office."

The six of them followed the principal to his office, and closed the door. "What did you want to talk about?" Ichigo asked.

"Just a reminder about no killing people," the principal said. "Keiichiro informed me of the latest situation, and I just wanted to remind you about the no-weapons rule in this school, since I have a feeling the rules I set up might get ignored soon. You all are welcome to beat people up if they try anything, just don't kill them or take out weapons."

"We already got the lecture from Keiichiro," Toshiro said. "We won't use weapons. I suppose Keiichiro also told you about what we're doing here in the first place?"

"Yes, you're together with Miwa and Hiro is together with Moe," the principal said. "I didn't really get the bonding thing, but I'm not a Cyniclon, so I guess it doesn't really matter too much."

"We're hoping the girls here will die of shock," Miwa said. "Then we won't have to worry about them."

"Don't count on it," the principal said.

"Oh, we won't," Moe said. "Um… isn't that the bell?"

"Yes, get to class and tell your teacher I got carried away again," the principal said.

"Thanks," Ichigo said, and the six of them left.

**I know you all wanted Hiro to come back AFTER Toshiro's first day of school, but I wanted to put them in together, so this is what happened. We'll see what else happens- next chapter! Review plz!**


	26. Toshiro and Hiro at School

**Depression Chapter 26:**

**Toshiro and Hiro at School**

The six of them went up to the first period class, History. The teacher looked up, and said, "Let me guess, the principal got carried away AGAIN."

"Yup," Miwa said.

The teacher sighed and said, "Go sit down."

"Hai," Miwa said, and the six of them sat down as close together as they could as the teacher started the lesson.

Ichigo was the first to notice the staring, but soon after, the others caught onto the fact that the girls in class were ignoring the no-staring rule.

This seemed to particularly irritate Toshiro, because his eyes were glowing slightly. Ichigo noticed and said telepathically, _Toshiro, your eyes are glowing. Try to calm down._

_They're driving me insane! _Toshiro said.

_Deep breaths, it helped me, _Kisshu told him.

Toshiro tried that, and his eyes stopped glowing. Soon after, the bell rang, and they headed out. "The next teacher is stricter," Moe said.

"I hope that helps," Toshiro said.

"It usually does," Miwa said as they walked.

They sat down together in the next class, and waited as the teacher came to the front of the room. "I've been asked by the principal to go over the rules he set up again, since I hear your first period teacher neglected to do so," he said. "As you're all aware, we have two new students, and harassing them and/or their friends will get you a week in detention- unless of course you get beaten up for whatever you did, in which case you'll get suspended. So that means no note-passing, talking out of turn, or staring at people, and if you choose not to follow these rules, you're going to regret it. Now let's start the lesson."

The class was a bit more subdued after that little speech, and class passed by without incident. The next class was pretty much the same, but the period before lunch wasn't that great. The teacher got called out of the room, which was obviously a cue for the girls to start writing notes. As they were finishing, the teacher came back, and while her back was turned, a girl put a note on Hiro's desk. _Kisshu, what do I do with this thing? _he asked.

_Rip it up, and I'll go tell Toshiro the same, _Kisshu replied.

Hiro started ripping the note up as Kisshu said telepathically, _Toshiro, if someone passes you a note, rip it to shreds like Hiro's doing._

_Understood, _Toshiro said.

Unfortunately the teacher had heard the ripping noise, and asked Hiro, "Did someone pass you something, and that's why you're ripping up paper?"

"Yup, she passed me a piece of paper, and I've been told what I need to do with these things, so I ripped it up," Hiro said. He gestured to a girl sitting behind him.

The teacher sighed and asked the girl, "You know what this means, right?"

"One week in detention…" the girl said gloomily.

"Yes," the teacher said. "Jeez, I leave for five minutes…." Shaking her head, she went back to the lesson.

The next period was lunch, and the six friends were about to head for the roof when a girl came up to them. "What do YOU want?" Miwa asked.

"I wanted ask if Hiro wanted to eat with me…." the girl said.

"The answer is no," Hiro said. "I'm eating far away from the rest of you creeps. Besides, I already have a girlfriend."

"Whoever it is is probably doomed," the girl said.

"I think the lot of you would have a very hard time dooming me," Moe said.

"YOU got a boyfriend!?" the girl asked in shock.

"Yep, and Miwa and Toshiro are together," Moe said.

The girl fainted. Miwa giggled and said, "Let's go eat, guys."

"What's up with the girls here?" Toshiro asked as they walked.

"They're all idiotic nutcases," Miwa said. "No brains, no mind."

They reached the roof as Ichigo said, "They've all got one-track minds. Boys, boys, boys. Idiots."

"Good thing we were never like that," Moe said as they sat down to eat.

Suddenly they heard footsteps on the stairs, but the girls and Kisshu relaxed when they saw it was Yoki. "Hi Yoki," Miwa said. "How's it going?"

"Some girl is running around telling everyone you and Moe got boyfriends," Yoki said. "About half the people in the school are now unconscious."

Kisshu burst out laughing, joined by the others. "Are any of them dead from shock?" Ichigo asked, giggling.

"No, not yet," Yoki said. "I have a feeling the principal's going to be up here soon."

This was proven correct as the principal came up the stairs too. "Seriously, did you have to?" he asked wearily. "Half the school is unconscious."

"That's funny," Ichigo giggled. "We told one girl. It's not OUR fault she ran around knocking people out."

"You were trying to kill people by shocking them, right?" the principal asked.

"Yup!" Miwa said cheerfully.

The principal sighed, watching Kisshu eat yet another apple. "Is there some reason you're staring at my apple?" Kisshu asked mildly. "I'm not sharing."

"What did Pai say?" the principal asked.

"He said I'd be an apple in about five days, but he was joking," Kisshu said. "And then he started laughing, which freaked everyone out. His laugh is creepy."

"It was funny when he chased you around the Café," Ichigo said. "He's really out of shape."

"That's because he spends all his time sitting in a lab," Toshiro said. "But what's up with you turning into an apple, Kisshu?"

"It's a human saying, if you eat too much of something, you'll turn into it," Kisshu said. "It's just a saying, which is good, because otherwise I probably WOULD be an apple. I love apples."

"Correction: you're severely addicted to apples," Ichigo said dryly. "It's a good thing they're good for you."

"Am I really that bad?" Kisshu asked.

Ichigo gave him a look that said, "Are you serious?"

Kisshu sighed. "I just love them…" he said.

"I don't think I've ever seen such a serious food addiction," Miwa said.

"Me neither," Ichigo said. "Kishy goes through two bags a week. This is getting pretty out of control."

"TWO BAGS a WEEK!?" the principal asked incredulously. "How does your mother afford it?"

"I don't exactly know, but I think we need to cut you off, Kishy," Ichigo said. "Addictions- no matter what they are- aren't a good thing to have. And yours is seriously out of control. I'm going to talk to Pai after school; maybe he'll be able to figure out something."

"You're cutting me off for being obsessed?" Kisshu asked.

"This isn't normal, Kisshu," Ichigo said. "Unless it's something like the fact that you can't sleep if I'm not nearby, this isn't a good thing."

"I don't want to stop eating apples…" Kisshu said sadly.

"I'm aware of that," Ichigo said. "But we need to at least figure out if something's wrong."

Kisshu sighed as the bell rang. The principal sighed too and said, "If people start passing out in class, you six get to go home early."

"Great…." Kisshu said unenthusiastically.

They went to their next class, which was Science. The minute they walked in, someone noticed Miwa was holding hands with Toshiro and said, "Look, it's true!"

The entire classes' jaws hit the floor. The teacher sighed and said, "You six can go home, I'll never get anything done while you're here."

Ichigo sighed, and said, "Let's go, guys."

The others followed her to the office, and Toshiro knocked on the principal's door. It was opened a minute later, and the principal came out, then said, "I take it you're going home?"

"Yep," Ichigo said. "Well, actually we're going to Café Mew Mew for work, but you get the idea."

"Have fun, I'll try to get the students under control," the principal said gloomily. "I'll call your families, and tell them you get to stay home until the others get used to this."

"K," Ichigo said. She nodded to the others, and they followed her out.

When they were outside, Ichigo asked, "Moe, Miwa, are you coming to the Café?"

"Sure," Miwa said.

"We start work today," Hiro commented.

"Cool," Moe said.

"I hope it's not as bad as last time," Ichigo sighed as they walked. "That was the most exhausting day ever."

"I'll say," Kisshu said.

They reached the Café, and Ichigo unlocked the door with her key. Sakura poked her head out of the kitchen, and asked, "Okay, what happened this time?"

"This girl ran around telling everyone Moe and I had boyfriends, and everyone she told fainted," Miwa said. "The principal said he'd call you and our families."

"Great…." Sakura sighed. "Keiichiro and Pai are in the basement, maybe you could start preparation?"

"I need to talk with Pai," Ichigo said.

"Knock first," Sakura said, and went back to the kitchen.

Ignoring Kisshu's gloomy look, Ichigo went downstairs, and knocked on the door. She heard a sigh, and then Keiichiro called, "Come in!"

Ichigo opened the door, and Keiichiro and Pai looked startled. "What happened to school?" Pai asked.

"We got sent home early," Ichigo said. "I actually need to talk to you, Pai."

"What about?" Pai asked.

"Kisshu's apple addiction," Ichigo said. "It's completely out of control; I'm worried something's wrong. I've never seen a food addiction like this, even when Miwa couldn't live without raisins. She got over it, but Kisshu's addiction is getting worse, not better. Miwa eventually got sick of raisins; Kisshu just wants more apples. And I'm not sure how much longer Mom can afford to buy two bags a week."

"I did think it was kind of strange that Kisshu couldn't live without them," Pai said. "I really like peaches, and fruit addictions aren't really uncommon for Cyniclons, but I can live without peaches."

"Kisshu can't go a day without at least one apple, or he starts acting grouchy, and sometimes sad," Ichigo said.

"Okay, now I'm worried," Pai said. "Keiichiro, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to work alone for a while."

"Alright," Keiichiro said. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Pai said. "Let's go, Ichigo."

Ichigo followed him upstairs, where they found Kisshu looking grouchy, and the others trying to calm him down. Pai sighed and went over, then said, "Kisshu, I need to do a check-up on you."

"Why?" Kisshu asked grouchily.

"I'm worried about your apple obsession," Pai said. "From what Ichigo's described, it doesn't sound like this is either normal or good for you. Let's go, we can do this at home."

"I don't WANT to," Kisshu said.

Pai sighed and held out a hand. A ripple formed in the air, and froze Kisshu. Pai grabbed his shoulder and Ichigo's, and teleported to their room. He put Kisshu down on Ichigo's bed, then put him to sleep and undid the freezing spell. Then he put a hand on Kisshu's forehead, and said, "Ichigo, stay quiet."

Ichigo nodded, and watched as Pai closed his eyes, concentrating.

**What do you think Pai will find? Review and find out!**


	27. What Pai Discovered

**Depression Chapter 27:**

**What Pai Discovered**

Ichigo watched Pai concentrating, but got worried when his eyes snapped open. "This isn't good…" he whispered.

"What's wrong?" Ichigo asked, scared.

"Something I didn't even think of," Pai said. "There's a disease Cyniclons can get, which affects different people different ways. For some people the symptoms are like an actual sickness, like the flu or something, but for others, the symptoms affect the mind rather than the body. In Kisshu's case, it seems that the effect on his mind from this disease is that he thinks he can't live without apples. Why, I don't know. And this is a pretty rare symptom."

"Is there a cure for this?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah, but it takes a lot of energy," Pai said. "Call Keiichiro and tell him to send Toshiro and Hiro over here, and that the five of us won't be in for work today. Also tell him that Kisshu, you, and I might not be in for a while."

"On it," Ichigo said. She grabbed her cell phone and dialed Keiichiro's number. When he picked up, she said, "Keiichiro, Pai needs you to send Toshiro and Hiro over here, and he says none of us will be in for work today. He also wants you to know that he, Kisshu, and I might not be in for a while."

"_I'll let them know, but what happened?" _Keiichiro asked.

"Kisshu's got some kind of Cyniclon disease," Ichigo said.

"_I'll go send Toshiro and Hiro over," _Keiichiro said, and hung up.

Ichigo closed her phone and said, "They should be here soon."

Sure enough, Toshiro and Hiro teleported in five minutes later, and Pai said, "Kisshu's got Rutin's Disease, so I'll need power transfers from both of you. I'll let you know when." He turned to Ichigo and said, "Go get every apple in the kitchen, take them to Café Mew Mew, and tell your mom that she can't buy them or bring anything apple-related into this house for two weeks."

"K," Ichigo said. "I suppose you want me to come back after that?"

"Yes," Pai said.

Ichigo nodded and left. She went down to the kitchen, and got a cloth shopping bag. Then she gathered up every apple she could find, and put them all in the bag. She noticed there was still some apple crisp from last night left, so she put that in the bag too. Looking in the fridge, she found ten more apples, and put them in the bag. Then she took the bag, and left. She walked to Café Mew Mew, and went in the back door, then to the kitchen. Sakura was in there, and she asked, "What's in the bag?"

"Apples," Ichigo said. "I'm supposed to tell you that you can't buy apples or bring anything apple-related into the house for the next two weeks."

"Does this have something to do with Kisshu?" Sakura asked.

"Yup," Ichigo said. "Apparently he has some kind of Cyniclon disease that's affecting his mind, and making him think he can't live without apples."

"Wow," Sakura said. "Well, we can use the apples here. Leave them over there. I suppose you need to go back?"

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "See you when you get home." She left, and walked back home. Not wanting to disturb Pai, she quietly closed the front door, and went to the living room. She was about to sit down when Pai called her name telepathically, and she ran upstairs.

The boys looked up as she came in, and Toshiro said, "We need you to keep Kisshu asleep."

Ichigo nodded and climbed onto the bed with Kisshu, then started stroking his hair. He relaxed the tense position he had been in, and Pai sighed, then put his hand back on Kisshu's chest and started healing him again.

Fifteen minutes later, Pai said, "Toshiro, I need your power." Toshiro clasped hands with Pai, and the glow around Pai's hand got brighter.

Fifteen more minutes later, Pai said, "Hiro, we need help." Hiro took Toshiro's outstretched hand, and started pouring his power into Toshiro, who gave it to Pai.

Finally, after a total of 45 minutes, Pai took his hand away, looking exhausted. Ichigo looked up at him, and he said, "Kisshu will probably need some rest after that, as will I. This cure can also affect peoples' stomachs, so you should bring a bucket in here. Kisshu shouldn't be getting up until tomorrow evening at the earliest. Keep him from pushing himself; I won't be able to help for at least two days if something happens."

"I understand," Ichigo said. "Could one of you get the bucket, though? I don't think he'll stay asleep if I leave."

"Where do you keep them?" Toshiro asked.

"There's a closet at the top of the stairs, there should be some in there," Ichigo said.

Toshiro left, and Hiro did the same, supporting Pai. Toshiro came back a minute later with a bucket, and put it next to the bed. "Hiro and I should get back," he said.

"That's fine, we'll manage," Ichigo said. "Thanks."

"Sure," Toshiro said. "See you soon." He left, and Ichigo heard teleportation a minute later. She went back to stroking Kisshu's hair as he slept.

Two hours later, Kisshu started to stir, and then he opened his eyes. He looked startled to see Ichigo looking down at him, and asked, "Koneko-chan, what happened?"

"Pai said you had some kind of Cyniclon disease that was causing you to think you couldn't live without apples," Ichigo said. "He, Toshiro, and Hiro just spent about 45 minutes healing you. How are you feeling?"

"I feel kind of shaky," Kisshu said. "And my stomach doesn't feel great. I hope I don't have another stomach bug…"

"Pai said that the cure he used on you might affect your stomach," Ichigo said. "Toshiro brought a bucket in here, do you need it?"

"Maybe," Kisshu said. "But I don't think I can sit up."

"I'll help you; Pai said not to push yourself," Ichigo said. She helped Kisshu sit up, rearranging the pillows to support him. Then she handed him the bucket, and said, "Pai also said he won't be able to help you for about two days; he's pretty exhausted."

"I'll manage," Kisshu said. "I hope the stomach thing goes away before the shakiness; this doesn't feel good."

"I'm kind of surprised you aren't throwing up," Ichigo said.

"I know, it feels like there's a mixer in my stomach, but I don't have that sick feeling in my throat," Kisshu said.

"Sometimes if you're too tense it'll make it harder to throw up," Ichigo commented.

"So I should try relaxing?" Kisshu asked.

"It might help," Ichigo said.

Kisshu tried to relax his muscles, and almost immediately felt even more sick. Feeling like he was about to throw up, he pulled the bucket further up on his lap. "Did it work?" Ichigo asked him.

Kisshu tried to reply, but threw up instead. He felt Ichigo start rubbing his back gently as she said, "I guess it did."

A few minutes later, Kisshu felt his stomach start to return to normal, and soon after, he stopped throwing up. "How's your stomach now?" Ichigo asked him.

"It feels better," Kisshu said. "I guess I got everything out."

"Good," Ichigo said. "You should get some rest; you really shouldn't eat anything till tomorrow."

"Can I have water?" Kisshu asked. "My mouth doesn't taste good."

"Sure, I'll go get that," Ichigo said. She got up, and went to the kitchen, the poured a glass of water and brought it back to Kisshu. He took it and washed his mouth out, then drank the rest.

By the time he was done, Ichigo noticed he was looking sleepy. "Kishy, you should rest," she said softly. "I need to go empty the bucket, but I'll be back as soon as I can."

"K…" Kisshu said sleepily. Ichigo rearranged the pillows, and helped him lie down, then tucked him in. She left with the bucket, emptied it into the toilet, and cleaned it out in the tub. She left it there, and went back to Kisshu, who was half-asleep. She climbed onto the bed and started stroking his hair as she said, "Go back to sleep, Kishy."

Kisshu fell asleep pretty quickly, leaning into her hand.

He woke up around noon the next day, and looked up at Ichigo, who asked, "How are you feeling? You've been asleep for about 19 hours."

"I'm feeling better," Kisshu said. He sat up, but quickly realized that his legs were feeling too weak for him to stand. "I think I'm stuck in bed for a while; my legs are shaky," he said.

"We're out of school for a while again, so that's fine," Ichigo said. "How's your stomach today?"

"It feels fine, can I have something to eat?" Kisshu asked.

"Mom made some kind of chicken soup last night, I'll go ask if you can have some," Ichigo said. "I'm starving, so I'm going to get something too."

"You didn't have breakfast?" Kisshu asked.

"I didn't have dinner either, because I didn't want to disturb you," Ichigo said. "And I didn't want to wake you by eating in here."

"Sorry," Kisshu said.

"I know it's not your fault," Ichigo said. "I'll go get us some food, k?"

"K, thanks," Kisshu said.

Ichigo smiled and left.

By the end of the next day, Kisshu was able to walk again, and Pai was back to full strength.

Sakura got a call the next morning that said Kisshu and Ichigo could come back to school the next day, so they started getting ready.

**I know this chapter wasn't great. Hopefully the next one will be better, but it won't be till tomorrow. In the meantime, plz review!**


	28. Explosion

**Depression Chapter 28:**

**Explosion**

Kisshu and Ichigo were finishing breakfast when Toshiro and Hiro teleported in. "Hi guys," Ichigo said.

"Hi," Hiro said. "Toshiro's not happy about school."

"I hate school," Toshiro grumbled.

"As I recall, you hated it BEFORE you came to Earth," Kisshu said. "We'll help you survive."

"Thanks," Toshiro said.

"We should get going," Hiro said.

Ichigo and Kisshu got their bags and shoes, then left with Hiro and Toshiro.

Moe and Miwa were waiting at the gates, and as soon as the others reached them, Miwa said, "It's a bit too quiet, we'd better watch out."

"You think there's going to be some kind of explosion?" Kisshu asked as they walked in.

"Possibly," Miwa said.

Ichigo sighed. "Well, all we can do is be careful, since we don't exactly know what might happen," she said.

The others nodded as they entered their first period class, and sat down together. As Miwa had said, it was too quiet. No one was whispering or staring; everyone was just working quietly. Looking at the teacher, Ichigo noticed she looked mildly surprised, but also pleased that everyone was working.

The next class was the same. Same with the next two. As they were walking to the roof for lunch, Moe said, "Something's definitely up. Maybe we should just find a deserted classroom; they can't attack us there."

Kisshu closed his eyes and concentrated, then said, "Let's do that, there's a large amount of people on the roof."

"Let's also tell the principal," Miwa said. "We can't beat up that many by ourselves, and we can't use weapons, so we'd be screwed if we went up there."

"Let's go," Ichigo said.

They went to the office, and Ichigo asked the receptionist, "Is the principal busy?"

"No, you can knock and go in," the woman said.

The six friends went to the door, and Ichigo knocked. "Come in," they heard.

Ichigo opened the door, and went in, followed by her friends. "Uh-oh, what happened?" the principal asked as Toshiro closed the door.

"I sensed a large group of people on the roof," Kisshu said. "I think the girls are lying in wait until we come up there."

"It has been pretty quiet," the principal said. "I guess I'd better go see what's going on. You should find a classroom and eat there, I guess the roof isn't safe today."

Kisshu sighed, and motioned to the others. Toshiro looked like he had an idea, and Kisshu asked, "Toshiro, what's up?"

"I've got an idea," Toshiro said, and put his left pointer finger on the principal's forehead for a minute. When he took it away, Kisshu said, "Good idea, that should help."

"Uh, what did you do to me?" the principal asked.

"That will tell me if you get attacked," Toshiro said. "If the students think you're one of us coming upstairs, they might attack without looking. What I just did will tell me if they attack you. It'll wear off by tomorrow morning, but that should be long enough, since I doubt it'll take more than lunchtime."

"You're something else," the principal said. "Thanks."

"Sure," Toshiro said. "We're off to find a classroom."

The principal followed them out, and they went separate ways. The six friends went back to the second floor, and found a deserted classroom pretty easily. Ichigo turned the light on, and they were about to sit down when Toshiro said, "Uh-oh."

"Let me guess, he got attacked," Kisshu said.

"Yep," Toshiro said. "Let's go."

Leaving their stuff behind, the six friends ran for the roof. Reaching the staircase, they found the door at the top locked. Toshiro looked at Kisshu, who nodded. Then Toshiro put a hand on the lock, and they heard a click. He threw the door open, and ran onto the roof, followed by the others.

They nearly stopped dead when they saw that the principal appeared to be unconscious, but Kisshu said, "We'd better keep our guard up, guys. Toshiro, take the principal and leave, then come back and help us. Hiro, Ichigo, Miwa, Moe, stay and help me take these jerks down."

"Hai!" the others said. Toshiro slung one of the principal's arms over his shoulder and went back down the stairs while the others blocked the girls who tried to go after them. "Are you lot on drugs or something?" Kisshu asked coldly. "My friends and I have had enough. The lot of you can either quit bugging us for good, or coincidentally fall off the roof. Though considering how utterly STUPID the lot of you are, I doubt you'll EVER stop bugging us."

"You seriously think you can push us all off the roof?" one girl asked.

"Yes," Kisshu said calmly. Toshiro came back as he said, "I've had it with you losers, so you can go to hell."

"The only losers are your stupid girlfriends," the girl said.

Kisshu had obviously had it, because he punched her so hard she went flying into the railing surrounding the roof. She slumped to the ground, unconscious, and Kisshu asked, "Anyone ELSE got something to say?"

The girls had started to look nervous, and Toshiro asked, "Who started this?"

"The girl Kisshu just knocked out," one girl said.

"And the reason the rest of you went along with her insane plan would be…." Kisshu said.

"Some people are like her, and will do just about anything to get rid of Ichigo, Moe, and Miwa, but the rest of us don't want to commit social suicide," the girl said. "That's about half of us."

"So in other words, the girls in this school are all either complete idiots or totally evil idiots," Hiro said.

The girl flinched a bit, but said, "Yeah, pretty much."

The all heard sirens, and the girls started looking nervous, except for the girl who they had been talking to. She just looked resigned.

A few minutes later, they heard footsteps on the stairs, and a bunch of police officers came out onto the roof. The leader said, "The lot of you are coming downstairs, now."

The girls sighed, and two of them picked up their leader, then followed the police officers downstairs. One of the officers came over to the six friends and said, "So what happened?"

"We came up here and found the principal unconscious, and those girls looking pretty hostile," Kisshu said. "I told Toshiro to take the principal and leave, and then asked the girls up here if they were on drugs. And they didn't answer except to call Ichigo, Moe, and Miwa losers, so I punched the girl who did the talking into the railing over there, and she got knocked out. One of the others said that half the girls went along because they're evil, and the other half went along to avoid social suicide. And then you guys came."

"Is Mr. Izika okay?" Ichigo asked.

"He's got a broken wrist, but other than that, yes," the officer said. "You six can go home, this school is being closed down until we feel that it's safe for the others to come back."

"Thank you," Ichigo said. "We have to go get our stuff, and then we'll get going."

"K," the officer said.

The six friends headed into the school, then went to the classroom and grabbed their things. "I'm starving, let's eat somewhere else," Kisshu said.

The others nodded, and headed out.

**Yes, it's too short. But I couldn't think of anything else, so I'll go work on my latest one-shot request. Review plz!**


	29. Disaster Strikes (Again)

**Depression Chapter 29:**

**Disaster Strikes (Again)**

The six friends went to a nearby park, and sat down at a picnic table to eat lunch. "The school's been closed down; what will happen now?" Toshiro asked.

"I'm not sure," Ichigo said. "I'm worried, though. We need to stick together, but that's going to be harder if we have to go to a different school. And I'm guessing Mr. Izika is the only one who would let us beat people up."

The others looked worried too, and Kisshu said, "I wonder if we could find some way of being homeschooled. I know Sakura can't do it, but maybe we could find someone else who could teach us outside of school."

"What about Pai?" Miwa asked.

The girls were startled when the boys all got expressions of pure horror on their faces. "NO! ANYTHING but Pai!" Toshiro said desperately. "Don't even MENTION that idea to him!"

"Uh…." Ichigo said. "What's the big deal?"

"Pai was asked to tutor some kid in our school who was bad at science, and the kid literally died of boredom!" Kisshu said, panicked.

"Pai's such a boring teacher, he literally can kill people!" Hiro said, equally panicked. "We'll all die if we have Pai teach us!"

"Hey, look on the bright side, we can haunt him," Toshiro snickered. Kisshu and Hiro gave him the 'what planet are YOU from' look.

"You're signing up to die?" Hiro asked. "You know what's going to happen to Miwa, right?"

"Point taken, I was just joking," Toshiro said sulkily.

"NEVER joke about Pai's power of boredom again," Kisshu said.

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but what would happen to me if Toshiro died?" Miwa asked.

"You'd die too," Kisshu said gloomily. "That's the way the bond works. If one person dies, the other feels it, and dies too. There have been a few cases where the remaining person went insane, but that's extremely rare."

"I don't like either option, so let's stay away from Pai," Miwa said.

"Why didn't Pai go to jail?" Ichigo asked.

"He was ten years old at the time," Kisshu said. "I bet the kid's brain imploded or something, and that's how he died."

"Does Taruto know about this?" Moe asked.

"No, he was too little when it happened," Kisshu said. "And when it happened, Aunt Ame told us never to tell him."

"Now that you'll never see her again, are you going to tell him?" Hiro asked.

"That's not a bad idea," Kisshu said thoughtfully. "Okay!"

"Should we head to the Café?" Ichigo asked. "I think it's almost time."

"Okay," Kisshu said. "I hope Taruto's there."

"Can we come?" Moe asked.

"Sure," Ichigo said. "You want to see Taruto's reaction, right?"

"Yup!" Moe and Miwa said together.

"K, let's go," Kisshu said. The others followed him to the Café, and went in. They saw Taruto and Pudding cleaning tables, and Kisshu called, "Taruto!"

"What?" Taruto asked.

"Come over here a minute," Kisshu said. "Pudding, you might want to hear this too."

Taruto and Pudding came over, and Taruto asked, "What's up?"

"I think it's time I told you something that Pai did when he was ten," Kisshu said. "You're old enough, right?"

"Of course I am!" Taruto said.

"Pai was asked to tutor a kid in science at our school," Kisshu said. "And after two weeks of Pai's tutoring, the kid's brain imploded from boredom. Aunt Ame said to wait till you were older to tell you, because you were only two when it happened."

"Is that true?" Taruto asked, his eyes going wide.

"Yep, he was my cousin," Toshiro said.

"That's SCARY, na no da," Pudding said.

"Yeah, I didn't know people's brains could implode from boredom," Taruto said.

"We just told Ichigo, Moe, and Miwa that story; Miwa suggested having Pai homeschool us," Kisshu said.

"That would be a nightmare," Taruto said.

"What would be a nightmare?" Pai asked, coming up from the basement.

"YAAH! He's here!" Taruto screamed, and he and Pudding ran behind Kisshu.

"What is with you two? Were you eating sugar again?" Pai asked.

"NO, we just don't want our brains to implode," Taruto said.

"Alright, what'd Kisshu tell you this time?" Pai asked wearily.

"Your boring teaching killed somebody!" Taruto screamed.

Pai turned dark red and yelled, "Kisshu, did you tell him THAT story!?"

"Sure did," Kisshu said. "See Taruto, I told you it was true."

"You were right; I'm outta here," Taruto said. He grabbed Pudding and teleported.

Kisshu noticed Pai had black smoke coming out of his ears, and said, "We'd better run, guys!"

The others turned and ran out the doors, followed by Pai, who had obviously lost it. "KISSHU, YOU'RE GOING _**DOWN**_!" he shouted.

"You couldn't take me down if your life depended on it!" Kisshu called back.

"I can if I TICKLE you!" Pai shouted.

Kisshu squeaked, and teleported. The others stopped running, and Toshiro asked, "What happened?"

"Tickling causes Kisshu to stop breathing," Ichigo said. "He's terrified of being tickled. Moe, Miwa, would you mind making it clear to Pai that tickling or threatening to tickle Kisshu isn't okay?"

"We're on it," Moe said. She and Miwa headed for Pai like hungry wolves, and Hiro asked, "Do you need help finding Kisshu?"

"I'm guessing he's under my bed, but do you mind checking?" Ichigo asked.

Hiro closed his eyes, concentrating, and said, "That doesn't look like 'under a bed'…. I have no clue where he is, but I can teleport you."

"Thanks," Ichigo said. "Toshiro, can you stay and explain what happened?"

"Sure," Toshiro said. He went over to the fight as Hiro took Ichigo's hand and teleported.

They landed in a field of flowers, and Hiro said, "Uh-oh…."

"What?" Ichigo asked.

"We're not on Earth anymore," Hiro said. "We're close to where Pai and Taruto's parents live. Kisshu must have teleported here by mistake because he was scared."

"You guys can teleport between planets?" Ichigo asked.

"Only the strongest of us can," Hiro said. "I'm third after Kisshu, which is the only reason we're not stranded somewhere else. We should go find Ame and Gen, and see if Kisshu's with them. And we need to walk; I don't have enough energy left to teleport again."

"I don't mind," Ichigo said. "It's pretty here."

Hiro led her to the outskirts of a town, and said, "We'd better be careful. I'm not sure how people will react when they see a human."

"Would it help if I turned into a cat? I can use telepathy in that form as well," Ichigo said.

"There aren't any cats here…." Hiro said.

"Tell people you found me on Earth," Ichigo said. "And tell them my name is Moe."

"Okay," Hiro said. Ichigo poofed into cat form, and Hiro said, "Um… can I take the bow off your tail?"

Ichigo nodded, and Hiro took the bow off, then put it in his pocket. Then he picked her up, and walked into town.

As they were going down a street, a girl's voice called out, "Hiro!?"

Hiro cringed and turned. "Hi Rina-oneesan," he said nervously.

A girl with blue hair and blue eyes ran up to them and asked, "Where were you, and what the HELL are you wearing?"

"I told the others to tell you guys I was staying on Earth," Hiro said. "They didn't tell you?"

"More like they told Mom, and she didn't tell me a thing," Rina grumbled. "I suppose that's why Toshiro is gone too?"

"Yup, we both bonded to Earth girls, so we had to stay," Hiro said. "It's not exactly easy, but our girlfriends are both really sweet, and really spunky. And I have to go to a human school, which is why I'm wearing this." His face turned serious, and he said, "Have you seen Kisshu?"

Rina looked grim, and said, "He's at the mansion."

Hiro's eyes widened. "They caught him?" he asked.

"Apparently he was found unconscious in that field, and since he's an exile now, the guy who found him called the authorities," Rina said. "What happened, Hiro?"

"Kisshu got scared by Pai, and teleported here by mistake," Hiro said. "I came back here to get him, but I didn't realize he was on our planet, and I teleported. I don't have enough energy to teleport right now."

"We've got to get Kisshu," Rina said. "You know what the penalty is for him, right?"

"Yes," Hiro said grimly. "Death."

Ichigo squeaked. Rina looked at her, and asked, "Hiro, what's that?"

"This is my kitten, Moe," Hiro said. "I was holding her when I teleported."

"She's adorable," Rina said. "But we need to get Kisshu out before they kill him. I don't think telling them it was an accident is going to work. Any ideas?"

"If we could get inside the mansion, we could get him out," Hiro said. "Do you know where in the mansion they're keeping him?"

"I think he's still being interrogated, so probably the audience chamber," Rina said. "Do you have enough energy for the freezing technique if I teleport you?"

"Yeah, I can use most of my powers, but teleporting's not back yet," Hiro said. "Do you have something in mind?"

"Pretend Moe is a gift for Inari-sama, and get in that way," Rina said. "I can use the freezing technique too, so we can freeze people inside."

"I guess that will work," Hiro said. "Okay, let's go."

Rina took his shoulder, and teleported to the gates of a large mansion. The guard standing there asked, "What is your business here?"

"I have a gift for Inari-sama," Hiro said.

"Hiro!?" the guard asked incredulously. "What are you doing back?"

"I just told you, I have a gift for Inari-sama," Hiro said. "Can we come in?"

"Hai, but what's the gift?" the guard said as he opened the gates.

"This little kitten," Hiro said, nodding to Ichigo.

"That's cute," the guard said. "Go on in, I let the front door guard know."

Hiro nodded, and he and Rina went to the front door.

**Can they get Kisshu out in time? Review and find out!**


	30. Rescue

**Depression Chapter 30:**

**Rescue**

The front door guard let them in, and said, "Someone should be here soon to lead you to the audience chamber. There's someone in there, so you might have a bit of a wait."

"That's fine," Hiro said.

A woman in a maid's uniform came up to them, and said, "Follow me."

Rina and Hiro followed her to a set of large doors, and she said, "There are benches over there. Does the little black thing need water or anything?"

"Water would be good," Hiro said. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all, I'll be back with that," the woman said, and teleported off. Rina and Hiro looked around, then quickly ran to the doors. Finding them unlocked, they pushed the doors open, and everyone inside the room looked up, startled.

A man wearing a red robe got up, looking angry. "Who gave you permission to come in here?" he asked.

"We're here to get Kisshu back," Hiro replied calmly. Noticing Kisshu was tied to a chair in the center of the room, he put Ichigo down, saying telepathically, _Get those ropes off!_

_On it, _Ichigo said. As the guards in the room lunged at Rina and Hiro, she ran around them, and to the chair. She clawed through the ropes, but then noticed Kisshu's wrists were tied together as well. She looked closely at the ropes, then chewed through the main knot. Kisshu pulled the rest of the ropes apart, and said softly, "Thanks, Koneko-chan."

Ichigo rubbed against him, and said, _Hiro and Rina are fighting, are you able to help?_

Kisshu got up and looked over at Hiro and Rina, then said, "Get on my shoulder." Ichigo obeyed, and Kisshu took out his swords, then flew over to help.

Some of the guards started to look nervous when they saw Kisshu. "Ichigo, go to Rina," Kisshu said. Ichigo obeyed as Kisshu launched himself at the latest group of reinforcements.

Ichigo jumped onto Rina's shoulder, and watched as Kisshu started fighting. He had already knocked out five guards, and was currently disarming a sixth. Ichigo noticed that this was nothing like when he had fought her. Kisshu was moving so fast he wasn't even visible at times, and the guards were getting creamed. Suddenly she felt Rina relax a bit, and looked back at her. She and Hiro had either defeated or frozen all of their opponents, and were watching as Kisshu creamed the last guy standing. After the guy was unconscious, Kisshu sighed and said, "They thought I had gotten rusty."

"Apparently not," Hiro said. "You're amazing, Kisshu."

"Thanks," Kisshu said. He turned to Inari and said, "I'm going back to Earth, since coming here was a teleporting mistake."

"You're taking her with you," Inari snarled, pointing to Rina.

"I knew that was coming," Rina sighed. "How are we getting back? You both teleported here."

"I guess we need to call Pai," Kisshu said.

"Let's go back to the field, we're not too welcome here," Hiro said.

Rina and Kisshu nodded, and Rina teleported Ichigo and Hiro to the field, followed by Kisshu. When they landed, Rina sighed, and asked, "What are Mom and Dad going to do without me?"

"They'll still have Ina," Hiro said a bit sadly. "I guess that'll just have to do it. How did Mom take the news of me leaving?"

"Not well, she was moping for a week," Rina sighed. "We're extremely lucky I haven't bonded to anyone yet."

"No kidding," Hiro said. "Um, Kisshu, are you calling Pai?"

"Right," Kisshu said. He concentrated, and a few minutes later, he said, "He'll be close in a few hours, we're going to have to teleport to the ship."

"K," Hiro and Rina said.

Kisshu settled down on the ground, and Ichigo jumped onto his lap, then curled up, purring. Rina looked confused as she said, "Hiro, I thought Moe was your kitten."

"Moe?" Kisshu asked.

"It was Ichigo's idea," Hiro said. "I told her when we got here that we'd have to be careful, since she's human, and she suggested turning into a cat so we could get around unnoticed. And she told me to tell anyone who asked that her name was Moe. And that's how we got into the mansion; Rina suggested telling the guards that Ichigo was a present for Inari-sama."

"Good idea, Rina," Kisshu said.

"Thanks," Rina said. "So your kitten is really a human?"

"Sort of, she's Mew Ichigo," Kisshu said. "I bonded with her."

"You too?" Rina asked.

"Pai and Taruto as well," Kisshu said. "But it was a shocker when Toshiro bonded with Ichigo's friend Miwa, and then Hiro bonded with Ichigo's other friend Moe. Although those two are FAR from your average humans."

"Yeah, Moe creamed me in hand-to-hand combat," Hiro said.

"And Miwa creamed Toshiro," Kisshu added.

"Jeez, and they're humans?" Rina asked.

"I think so," Kisshu said.

"Rina-oneesan, when we get back, you and I have to share a room," Hiro said. "The guy who took us in has only two rooms. Toshiro's got the other one."

"I've been doing that since you were old enough to sleep in a bed, I don't mind," Rina said. "I just hope the guy who took you in doesn't mind."

"I don't think Keiichiro will mind if we tell him you and I are sharing, and you don't need to be signed up for school," Hiro said. "You just turned 19, right?"

"Yep," Rina said.

"Happy birthday," Hiro and Kisshu said together.

Rina smiled. "Thanks," she said.

"Koneko-chan, are you going to turn back?" Kisshu asked.

_Won't that make it harder to teleport into the ship? _Ichigo asked.

"Good point," Kisshu said. "What happened to your little tail ribbon?"

"It's in my pocket," Hiro said. "I didn't want anyone to realize who she was."

"More like you didn't want to be seen with that much pink," Rina snickered.

Hiro growled and took the ribbon out of his pocket, handing it to Kisshu. He dangled it in front of Ichigo, and she started batting at it. He raised it a bit, and she jumped, trying to bite it. Kisshu snickered and moved the ribbon just before she bit it. "Why does she do that?" Rina asked.

"Cats like to play with their prey, and they also like playing with toys that move," Kisshu explained, as he wiggled the ribbon again. "Ichigo does this in human form sometimes too. It's her cat genes."

"Can I try?" Rina asked.

Kisshu handed her the ribbon, and she giggled as Ichigo scampered over.

For the next few hours, they played with Ichigo, until Kisshu said, "Pai just called, he's close enough for us to get there. Do you need the image?"

"Yes please," Rina said. "Hiro, can you teleport?"

"Not yet," Hiro said. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Rina said. "I'll take you." Kisshu implanted the image into her mind, then picked up Ichigo and teleported to the main room of the ship. Rina and Hiro appeared soon after, and Kisshu led the way to the control room.

Kisshu knocked on the door, and heard, "Come in!"

Kisshu opened the door, and went in, followed by Rina and Hiro. Pai looked up, then asked, "Rina?"

"I got exiled for helping Hiro save Kisshu," Rina said glumly.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Pai said. "Thank you for helping Kisshu, though."

"Sure," Rina said. "I don't regret it, but I wish I could have said goodbye to my parents."

"How are my parents doing?" Pai asked.

"They're doing okay, but they miss you guys," Rina said.

Pai sighed. "I miss them too, as does Taruto," he said. "Ichigo's mother is wonderful, though."

"Ichigo's mom took you in?" Rina asked.

"All three of us started living with her after Ichigo's father died," Pai said. "And we're all working at Café Mew Mew. Do you mind working there too?"

"No, but I don't really know what to do," Rina said.

"We'll teach you," Hiro said.

"Why is Ichigo still in cat form?" Pai asked.

Kisshu looked at Ichigo, and asked, "Koneko-chan, do you want to turn back now?"

Ichigo nodded, and Kisshu set her down. She concentrated, then POOFed back into her human form. She sighed and said, "I like being a cat, but that might have been a bit much. Now all I can think about is fish…"

Kisshu snickered, and Ichigo asked, "What?"

"That's funny," Kisshu said. "I think we might have tuna in the kitchen…."

Ichigo's eyes lit up.

"I need to fly the ship, so you should all go to the kitchen," Pai said.

Kisshu sighed and led the others off.

**Well, there's your chapter. Rina will be living on Earth now…. Review or PM with ideas, plz!**


	31. Back to Earth

**Depression Chapter 31:**

**Back to Earth**

Kisshu led the way to the kitchen, and went to a cabinet, then took out a can of tuna. Then he opened it, drained the water out, and handed it to Ichigo, saying, "Here you go, Koneko-chan."

"Thanks, but do you have a spoon or something?" Ichigo asked. "I'm trying to resist sticking my face in the can."

Kisshu snickered and went to find a spoon. He found one and gave it to Ichigo, who sat at the kitchen table and immediately started eating.

Five minutes later, she had finished and was purring contentedly. "I take it that was good?" Rina asked.

"I love fish…." Ichigo said dreamily.

Suddenly an intercom came on, and Pai's voice said, _"We're about to enter Earth's atmosphere; stay seated."_

Soon after, the ship got pretty bumpy. As it started to even out, Ichigo said, "My stomach's not feeling good…."

Kisshu took her shoulder and teleported to the bathroom. Ichigo immediately ran over to the toilet and threw up everything she had eaten that day. Kisshu gently rubbed her back as she got everything out, and when she stopped heaving, he said, "Maybe giving you the fish wasn't such a good idea after all…."

"I guess not," Ichigo said. "My stomach feels better now, though."

"Good," Kisshu said. Ichigo got up and flushed the toilet, then went to rinse her mouth out. When she finished, they went back to the others.

Pai was in the kitchen too, and he asked, "Ichigo, are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, thanks," Ichigo said. "Are we going?"

"Yeah," Pai said.

Kisshu took Ichigo's shoulder, and Hiro took Rina's. Then they and Pai teleported to Café Mew Mew.

Sakura, Keiichiro, Toshiro, Moe, and Miwa were waiting for them in the main room, and looked startled to see Rina. "Hiro, who's this?" Keiichiro asked.

"My older sister, Rina," Hiro said. "She got exiled for helping me save Kisshu. Can she and I share my room?"

"Fine," Keiichiro said. "Rina, how old are you?"

"Nineteen, I'm out of school," Rina said.

"Good," Moe said. "If you went to our school, you'd get swarmed by the boys."

Keiichiro sighed and asked, "Rina, do you need human clothes?"

"If it's not too much trouble," Rina said.

"It's fine," Sakura said. "I'll take you shopping; Keiichiro can handle getting you a uniform for the Café, if you're working here."

"I don't know what to do, but I don't mind working here," Rina said.

"We'll teach you," Ichigo said.

"Rina, you won't be able to use your powers on Earth," Pai said. "It'll get you arrested."

Rina sighed. "I'm going to miss teaching," she said.

"Teaching?" Moe asked.

"I tutored my classmates, and after I graduated, I started teaching at the school," Rina said. Then she smirked, and said, "And unlike Pai, I never killed anyone."

Pai was steaming, but Keiichiro said, "Taruto said something about Pai having the ability to make peoples' brains implode from boredom; are you saying that's true?"

"Actually, the kid he accidentally killed turned out to have a rare mental problem where taking in too much information at once would cause him to get really disoriented," Rina said. "Pai was unaware of that, though, and though his teaching probably WAS boring, it's the amount of information he was trying to get the kid to learn that did him in. The disorientation apparently got too much one day, and the kid's brain did implode. Pai was extremely lucky he was only ten; otherwise he'd probably be either dead or in jail right now."

"Pai, why didn't you notice the kid was disoriented?" Keiichiro asked.

"Because everyone I talk to about science looks like that; they look at me like I'm speaking a different language," Pai said gloomily. "Same with math, and that's all I was tutoring Kenji in; math and science."

"So why do Kisshu, Toshiro, and Hiro all think it was boredom rather than a mental problem?" Miwa asked.

"They were all seven years old, and didn't grasp the concept of 'mental deficiency'," Pai said. "So they assumed since I'm apparently boring, that Kenji's brain imploded from boredom. And Taruto was NOT supposed to learn that, because my mom knew exactly what would happen- Taruto would freak out whenever he saw me. Which, by the way, is what he's doing. He's spending the night at Pudding's because he's terrified that his brain is going to implode."

Rina sighed. "I'll go explain it to him; Pai, you should come too, since I have no clue where I'm going."

Pai sighed and took Rina's hand, then teleported off. Sakura sighed too, and said, "It's getting late, should we go home?"

"Yeah, I'm starving," Kisshu said. He took Ichigo and Sakura's hands, and teleported to the living room.

_**Meanwhile, with Pai and Rina: **_They landed in front of Pudding's house, and Pai knocked on the door. From inside they heard, "Pudding, if that's Pai, don't let him in!"

Pai sighed as they heard Pudding agree, and running footsteps. Pudding opened the door, saw Pai and Rina, and asked, "Pai-oniichan is cheating on Lettuce-oneechan?"

Pai opened his mouth to respond, but too late; Pudding had already shouted, "Taru-Taru, Pai-oniichan has a new girlfriend!"

"YAAAH!" Taruto shrieked. "Does she have horns?"

"That kid is SO doomed," Rina said. Then she yelled, "I do NOT have horns, Taruto! Get your butt out here now, or I'm coming in!"

They didn't hear anything but teleportation, and Pai glared at Pudding. "Did you have to?" he asked angrily. "Rina is NOT my girlfriend, she's Hiro's older sister! And she just came to tell you what really happened with the kid I accidentally killed, since Kisshu's story was blown out of proportion!"

"So Pai-oniichan isn't cheating on Lettuce-oneechan?" Pudding asked.

"NO!" Pai yelled.

"Oh… Pudding has to check on the stew, see you at work tomorrow!" Pudding said cheerfully, and closed the door.

Pai groaned. Rina sighed and said, "I guess the explanation can wait. I'm going back to the Café; have fun with Kisshu and Ichigo."

"Mmph," Pai said. Then he teleported off.

Landing in the living room, he heard footsteps, and Ichigo came in looking angry. "What did I do now?" Pai sighed.

"Lettuce claims you're cheating on her with some lady with horns," Ichigo said.

"TARUTO'S GOING _**DOWN **_TONIGHT!" Pai screamed.

Ichigo lifted an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to mean you're NOT cheating on Lettuce?" she asked.

"I would NEVER cheat on Lettuce!" Pai shouted. "Pudding saw me with Rina, told Taruto I was cheating on Lettuce, and he started screaming about people with horns. Then Rina told him to get his butt out the door so she could beat him up, and I guess he must have teleported to Lettuce. I don't suppose you'd be willing to call her while Taruto goes down?"

"Oh, fine," Ichigo said. "No killing him, though. It will make Pudding sad."

"Oh, fine," Pai said grouchily, and teleported out.

Ichigo sighed and went to get her phone. She dialed Lettuce's number, and waited. Finally she heard Lettuce say, _"Ichigo?"_

"Hi Lettuce," Ichigo said. "Taruto was wrong; Pai was bringing Rina to Pudding's so she could explain that the 'dying of boredom' thing was incorrect. Taruto didn't even come to the door; he simply teleported out the minute Rina told him he was going down for suggesting she had horns. Do you know where Taruto is now?"

"_Under my bed, and he won't come out," _Lettuce sighed. _"Why didn't Pai call me?"_

"He's in a REALLY bad mood, and he's out trying to find Taruto so he can beat him up," Ichigo said. "He probably didn't want to sound grouchy while talking to you, since that hurts your feelings."

"_Oh…. thanks, Ichigo," _Lettuce said. _"I have to go; bye!"_

"Bye," Ichigo said, and hung up.

Kisshu came in as she was about to go put her phone away, and said, "I can't help but wonder why Lettuce believed Taruto…."

"Maybe he was acting differently," Ichigo said. "Though it is a bit strange; Lettuce usually has so much faith in people. I wonder if she's feeling hurt by Pai in some way."

"Maybe it's because they aren't spending as much time together as they used to; Pai's always in the lab with Keiichiro," Kisshu said. "Maybe you should ask her; I don't think she'd tell Pai."

"I think I will, but maybe tomorrow's better," Ichigo said. "It's getting late."

"Should we go to bed?" Kisshu asked.

"Sure," Ichigo said. Kisshu smiled, and they went upstairs to get ready for bed.

**I'm sorry this is so short, but I'll try to have more out soon. Is there going to be a problem between Pai and Lettuce? Review and find out!**


End file.
